Patent ID: 6921045

Claim:
A supersonic aircraft comprising: a fuselage extending forward and aft along a longitudinal axis, the fuselage having a lower surface and an upper surface; a highly swept low aspect ratio wing coupled to the fuselage, the wing having a forward leading edge and an aft trailing edge; an effector flap coupled to the wing trailing edge; a tail empennage coupled to the fuselage aft of the wing on the fuselage upper surface in a position high relative to the wing, the tail empennage forming a channel region subject to complex shock patterns and having an inverted V-tail geometry coupled to the wing in a braced wing configuration further comprising a vertical stabilizer, lateral inverted stabilizers, and inverted V-tail control surface ruddervators; and an effector coupled to the tail empennage; and a controller coupled to the effector flaps and the effectors, the controller further comprising a control process that reduces drag through channel relief by deflecting both the effector flap down and the effector up, and a control process capable of adjusting the aircraft longitudinal lift distribution for a selected supersonic Mach number to maintain a low sonic-boom, low drag-trim condition.