The General Dynamics F-16XL is a derivative of the F-16 Fighting Falcon with a cranked-arrow delta wing. It entered the United States Air Force's (USAF) Enhanced Tactical Fighter (ETF) competition in 1981 but lost to the F-15E Strike Eagle. The two prototypes were shelved until being turned over to NASA for additional aeronautical research in 1988. Both aircraft were fully retired in 2009 and stored at Edwards Air Force Base.
General Dynamics F-16XL
The SCAMP design team in late 1977, starting left: Harry Hillaker, Andrew Lewis, Kenny Barnes, Jim Gordon
F-16XL and a conventional F-16
An air-to-air left underside view of an F-16XL aircraft. The aircraft is armed with two wingtip-mounted AIM-9 Sidewinder and four fuselage-mounted AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles along with 12 Mark 82 500-pound bombs.
A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (Δ).
The Dassault Mirage 2000 is among the most successful delta-winged fighter jets, being used by many countries to this day.
Convair made several supersonic deltas. This is an F-106 Delta Dart, a development of their earlier F-102 Delta Dagger
Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde shows off its ogee wing
The Saab 35 Draken was a successful tailless double-delta design
