Jet with warpable wings begins flight tests

Engineers have lifted an idea from the birds, bees and brothers Wright in making the wings of a fighter jet being tested over California’s Mojave Desert.

The F/A-18A with warping wings began test flights this month. The experiments could lead to aircraft equipped with wings that bend and shape themselves to manoeuvre in flight, rather than using flaps, slats and ailerons that do the job on today’s planes.