We propose a blended wing-body delta aircraft of very high length-to-width ratio equipped with an upper-or-lower-surface-mounted turbo-jet engine-and-intake-plenum module which can be rotated laterally up to 90 degrees, swiveling from a pivot-point at the wing-body’s nominal center of pressure.

This vehicle will have fully-articulated chines with variable-dihedral and variable-slot capability. It will take off and land as an asymmetrical flying-wing-body, the “point” of the delta being one wing-tip, and the “tail” of the delta being the other wing-tip. In this configuration the engine module will be swiveled up to 90 degrees, exhausting past one of the chines, which in this configuration functions as elevons and fowler-flaps. In this configuration the opposing chine functions as a compound leading-edge slot system. In this low-speed configuration we expect to achieve landing speeds of around 100 to 120 knots.

In flight the vehicle turns its delta “point” to point forward, while swiveling its propulsion system to align with the delta’s centerline. Once flying as a high-length-to-width-ratio delta, we expect this craft to economically achieve supersonic and multi-mach speeds.

While this Variably Oblique Delta (VOD) method is suitable for various unmanned vehicle missions, we expect its greatest contribution to be as a span-loading sea-launched orbital transport or orbital first stage, or as a transport aircraft for rapid deployment and “factory-to-foxhole” and sky-mall transport and airdrop applications. For sea-launched orbital use, the "wing-in-ground-effect" opportunity could allow very large payloads to be launched while minimizing drag and reducing weight for the high-speed-delta mode.