The vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicle includes a pair of selectively rotatable ducted fans and a selectively rotatable thrust vectoring nozzle providing vertical takeoff and landing for an unmanned aerial vehicle or a similar type of aircraft. A pair of fixed forward-swept wings are mounted on a rear portion of a fuselage, and a pair of canards are mounted on a top end of a forward portion of the fuselage. The pair of ducted fans are respectively mounted on free ends of the pair of canards, and are selectively rotatable about an axis parallel to a pitch axis of the fuselage. An engine is mounted in the rear portion of the fuselage, and a thrust vectoring nozzle is mounted on the rear portion of the fuselage for directing thrust exhaust from the engine. The thrust vectoring nozzle is selectively rotatable about an axis parallel to the pitch axis.