NASA's F-15B ACTIVE research aircraft flies over the desert near Boron, California, as it heads back to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center following a research flight. ACTIVE is an acronym for Advanced Control Technology for Integrated Vehicles, a current flight research program at Dryden. ACTIVE employs thrust-vectoring of engine exhaust and an advanced control system to develop technology to improve cruise and maneuvering capabilities of future aircraft at both subsonic and supersonic speeds. The ACTIVE F-15B (Serial #71-0290) incorporates engine exhaust nozzles developed by Pratt and Whitney which can vector up to 20 degrees in both pitch and yaw, along with close-coupled canards ahead of the wings, to improve performance and maneuvering ability.
