What You Need to Know: The Lockheed Martin X-44 Manta, short for "Multi-Axis No-Tail Aircraft," was a groundbreaking stealth fighter concept developed by NASA and the U.S. Air Force in 1999. It was envisioned as a tailless, highly maneuverable jet based on the F-22 but featuring thrust-vectoring engines for improved stealth and agility.

-The X-44 Manta was canceled in 2000 due to budget cuts post-Cold War, before the defense budget boost following 9/11.

-Although the X-44 never saw production, its innovative design likely influenced the upcoming Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program. The X-44 remains a notable "what if" in U.S. military aviation.

X-44 Manta: The Stealth Fighter Concept That Never Took Flight

To marine biologists in general and ichthyologists in particular, the word “manta” refers to the Giant Manta Ray, the world’s largest ray.

To military aviation history buffs, meanwhile, the word “manta” signifies a conceptual experimental fighter plane that could have conceivably revolutionized either the current or next generation of aerial combat, but alas, ever got off the ground in the figurative or lesser sense of the phrase. So then, let us take a flight of fancy here and say hello to the hypothetical Lockheed Martin X-44 Manta.

X-44 Manta’s Early History & Specifications

Preliminary work on the Lockheed Martin X-44 design concept was begun by NASA and the United States Air Force circa May 1999. Had it gone into production, it’s a near certainty that it would’ve been carried out by Lockheed Martin’s legendary Skunk Works division, the brainchild of the late great Clarence “Kelly” Johnson and responsible for such legendary aircraft as the U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane, the SR-71 Blackbird. 

In fact, it is still the fastest air-breathing aircraft ever made, as well as the F-117 Nighthawk: the first so-called “Stealth Fighter,” though in reality it was used strictly as a bomber. This is just to name but a few examples. Indeed, the Manta was based on yet another Skunk Works warbird that was already in existence, the F-22 Raptor…except unlike the Raptor, the Manta was envisioned as being tailless!

My colleague Brandon J. Weichert elaborates further, “MANTA is an acronym that stands for, ‘Multi-Axis No-Tail Aircraft’…The MANTA took what was back then the radical design of the F-22 and augmented it. Primarily, by removing the aircraft’s conventional vertical and horizontal tail surfaces…Engineers at the time rightly believed these components significantly contributed to radar visibility, a key element of both the F-22 and X-44 projects was to make the birds as stealthy as possible. Instead, the X-44 MANTA’s designers added thrust-vectoring engines. This new engine not only made the X-44 stealthier than even its advanced F-22 big brother, but it also made the experimental bird more maneuverable.”

Would-be specifications of the X-44 are rather scant, but it would’ve packed an impressive array of armaments:

one 20mm internal cannon

-Two AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared (IR, i.e. heat-seeking) missiles

-Unspecified quantity of AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile; nicknamed the “Slammer”) missiles

-Two 1,000-lb (453.5 kg) GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs)

Operational Performance…Or the Reasons for the Lack Thereof

So, what went wrong? Quite simply, it boiled down to dollars and sense, as the program was canceled in 2000 due to lack of funding. To put things in historical context this was: 

1. nine years after the end of the Cold War and the resultant huge budget cuts to the U.S. Armed Forces, the so-called “peace dividend” ultimately turned out to be a false hope. 

2. one year before military operations and military spending began ratcheting up once again thanks to 9/11 and the resultant Global War on Terror (GWOT).

Where Are They Now?

Alas, not applicable, except in the memories and fertile imaginations of the aeronautical engineering geniuses who envisioned her. That said, the F-22 that inspired the Manta is still very much in service, despite then U.S. Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) Bob Gates’s decision to kill the Raptor program in 2011 after only 187 were built, for a superbly well-written and highly damning account of Mr. Gates’s folly, read the 2015 book ”Air Power Abandoned: Robert Gates, the F-22 Raptor and the Betrayal of America’s Air Force.”

In addition, as Weichert adds in a separate note, “MANTA’s memory may be living on in the Air Force’s proposed Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program. Like the MANTA, the planned sixth-generation warplane purportedly has a tailless design and other advanced technologies that are likely from the X-44. Indeed, the likelihood is profound that the canceled MANTA is the true originator of the theoretical NGAD program or at least the program’s manned plane portion.”

Alas, the NGAD may also end up being stillborn, as that program has been “paused” due to its exorbitant projected costs, and Chief of Staff of the Air Force (CSAF) Gen. David Allvin is already proposing a “notional Light Fighter concept” as a less expensive alternative. Time will tell.

About the Author: 

Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ). He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch , The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS).

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