Horizontal Tail Design Process for Modern Tactical Military Aircraft: Comparative Analysis of T-Tail vs Body-Mounted Layout

The following paper examines the reasons behind the widespread adoption of the T-tail architecture in recently designed tactical military aircraft. First, the reasons were sought in preliminary design techniques, such as the scissor plot, with a focus on the take-off rotation condition, which is often limiting for aircraft with Short Take-Off and Landing (STOL) capabilities. A comparative analysis between the T-tail and conventional empennage configurations is carried out through the redesign of the C-130J-30. The analysis reveals that takeoff rotation conditions no longer represent the primary constraint on aircraft maneuverability, thereby facilitating enhanced ground performance characteristics. Time-domain simulation studies corroborate these findings, demonstrating superior rotation performance achieved through T-tail implementation. These results indicate that T-tail configurations not only satisfy conventional empennage performance requirements but may substantially exceed them in operational effectiveness. Although the T-tail architecture shows greater structural and design complexities, it offers a crucial advantage from a performance and loadability standpoint. A T-tail design has been demonstrated to result in a 15% reduction in stabilizer area, provided that the performance requirements remain unchanged.