Cruciform wing

Rocket- and jet-propelled missiles often have a cruciform thin-wing arrangement in which four identical thin, low aspect ratio wings are equally spaced around a long, slender body.

For wings of equal size and shape, this gives constant aerodynamic characteristics whatever the aircraft's angle of roll or direction of turn.

However, because only half the total lift of the four surfaces is available in any given attitude, the configuration is less efficient than a conventional planar wing.

The aerodynamic properties of such a slender wing-plus-body configuration are different from those of the individual elements and the design needs to be evaluated as a unified form.

[8] In late 1983 Sikorsky received a contract to modify the S-72 RSRA as a demonstration testbed for the X-Wing rotor and it was rolled out in 1986.

[12][13] Shortly after World War Two, the French company Matra began studies of a variable-geometry aircraft in which two sets of wings were provided, one for low-speed takeoff and landing, and the other for high-speed flight.