March 05, 2001 -- The X-31 thrust-vectoring aircraft, first used in the 1990s to successfully demonstrate enhanced combat maneuverability, has taken flight again in a new program called VECTOR, focused on demonstrating extremely short- takeoff-and-landing (ESTOL) capabilities. The refurbished X-31 is photographed here by a chase plane during its first flight from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MD.