page_title: Supermaneuverability
section_title: Canard controls
hierarchical_section_title: Supermaneuverability / Characteristics / Canard controls
caption_attribution_description: English: Image of the McDonnell Douglas F-15 ACTIVE fighter aircraft in its first supersonic yaw vectoring flight.
context_page_description: Supermaneuverability is the capability of fighter aircraft to execute tactical maneuvers that are not possible with purely aerodynamic mechanisms. Such maneuvers can use controlled side-slipping and angles of attack beyond maximum lift.
  This capability was researched beginning in 1975 at the Langley Research Center in the United States, and eventually resulted in the development of the McDonnell Douglas F-15 STOL/MTD as a proof of concept aircraft. See also the Saab 35 Draken for early aircraft with limited supermaneuverable capabilities.
  The USAF abandoned the concept as counter-productive to BVR engagements as the Cobra maneuver leaves the aircraft in a state of near-zero energy, having bled off nearly all of its speed in performing the Pugachev's Cobra maneuver without gaining any compensating altitude in the process. Excepting one-on-one engagements, this leaves the aircraft very vulnerable to both missile and gun attack by a wingman or other hostile, even if the initial threat overshoots the supermaneuvered aircraft.
context_section_description: A canard is an elevator control surface placed forward of the wings. Sometimes, as with the B-1B, they are simply used to stabilize flexible portions of the fuselage or provide very minute attitude changes, but they are used often as a supplement to or full replacement of tail-mounted stabilators.
  The theory behind canards as the sole elevator surface is that no elevator configuration aft of the wings is truly satisfactory for maneuvering purposes; the airflow over the wings creates turbulence, however small, and thus affects elevators placed directly behind the wings. Placement below the wings (common on many fighters) exposes the elevators to even greater turbulence from under-wing ordnance. 
  The original solution to such problems, the T-tail, has been largely discredited as being prone to dangerous "deep stalls". Other solutions like the V-tail place the combination rudder-elevator surfaces out of the wings' airflow, but reduce the effectiveness of the control surface in the pure pitch and yaw axes.
  As a supplement to traditional elevators, canards vastly increase control surface area, and often increase the critical angle of attack of the wings as the canard directs air more directly toward the leading edge of the wing. They can also be designed to operate independently (i.e., counter-rotate), thus also acting as ailerons.
  Canards are not a requirement, and can have disadvantages including reduced pilot visibility, increased mechanical complexity and fragility, and increased radar signature, although radar cross-section can be reduced by controlling canard deflection through flight control software, as is done on the Eurofighter. F-22, for example, does not incorporate canards, mostly for stealth reasons. The production Su-35 also omits canards. Many technology demonstrators and maneuverability testbeds such as the F-15 S/MTD incorporated canards, even when the production aircraft they were based on did not. Production fighters like the Eurofighter Typhoon, Dassault Rafale and Saab Gripen all use a delta-wing configuration with canard surfaces, while some variants of the Su-27 including the Su-30, Su-30MKI, Su-33 and Su-37 use canards to supplement traditional tail-mounted elevators.
caption: The F-15 ACTIVE in flight; the design is a modified F-15 Eagle with vectored thrust and canards.
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