During 1981, work commenced at MBB on developing a design for a viable stealth aircraft; the effort was supported by a contract that had been issued by the German Air Force.

During the 1970s and 1980s, several nations, having recognised the potential strategic value of low-observably, commenced research into the application of such technologies with the aim of developing viable stealth aircraft for military purposes.

[1][4] This programme, which has been mainly known by the name Lampyridae (Latin for Fireflies), or alternatively as the Medium Range Missile Fighter (MRMF), was conducted by MBB under the terms of a contract issued by the German Air Force.

[4] Similar to Lockheed's own approach adopted during its development of the Have Blue demonstrator aircraft and the production F-117 Nighthawk (both still classified at the time), MBB's design team harnesses the dimensional principles of an airframe externally covered by polyhedral shapes for the Lampyridae.

[4] These shapes deliberately avoid both conventional right angles and curved surfaces; lift was generated via a system of vortices produced by its sharp leading edges.

[4] Following the completion of preparatory work using a flight simulator, it is known that the crewed 3/4-scale model performed at least 15 individual 'flights' inside the German-Dutch wind tunnel at Emmeloord, Flevoland, the Netherlands, during 1987.

[7][8] Using the results from the Lampyridae program, DASA decided to research on a more mature and practical stealth design called TDEFS (Technology Demonstrator for Enhancement and Future Systems).

[9] A small scale high speed wind tunnel model called FTT (Fliegender Technologie – Träger, English Flying Technology Platform) and an uncrewed version FTTU.