Optimal vertical maneuvers of the aircraft with thrust vectoring in the rigid body model

Maneuverability of aircraft, particularly high-performance aircraft, has been improved remarkably, which include the poststall maneuverability and the thrust vectoring. However, the performance of the aircraft is shown well only when the aircraft carry out the best maneuvers. In this paper, we try to optimize the vertical loop of the aircraft with poststall maneuverability and thrust vectoring control in the rigid body model. We formulate the trajectory optimization as a nonlinear programming problem and analyzed numerically. The optimal solutions we obtained show better performance than those of ordinary aircraft, although poststall flights in the low speed seem difficult and dangerous. Thus, those maneuvers might be good for unmanned aerial vehicles.