Raytheon Company

Jonathan P Nikkel

Anthony K Tyree

An air vehicle includes a fuselage, and one or more lifting surfaces attached to the fuselage. The lifting surfaces deploy form a stowed, compact condition, to a deployed condition in which the lifting surfaces are deployed to provide lift to the air vehicle. The lifting surfaces each include a top member and a bottom member, which are joined at leading and trailing edges, such as by welds along the seams, or by flexible material placed along the seams. In deploying the thickness of the lifting surfaces increase, with middle portions of the members (portions of the members between the leading and trailing edges) moving away from one another. This may be accompanied by a lessening of the chord of the lifting surface, with the leading edge and the trailing edge moving closer together as the lifting surface deploys.

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Vail, AZ, United States of America

Jonathan P Nikkel