A modular approach to the manufacture of high performance military aircraft allows different aircraft to be manufactured at affordable cost and with high part number commonality. An aircraft so constructed includes a delta wing (4); a forebody section (28), including a cockpit (2), which is mounted to the front of the wing (4), and a propulsion system support frame (23) mounted beneath the forebody section (28) and the underside of the wing (4). The propulsion system (10) is supported within this frame. The aircraft can also include an aftbody section (20) mounted to the aft end of the wing (4), which includes a 2-D variable thrust vectoring nozzle (11) and a pair of canted vertical tails (6). The forebody section (28) includes a chin inlet (9) below the cockpit. The wing (4) is preferably constructed using thermoplastic welding.