A vertical takeoff and landing ("VTOL") aircraft, e.g., an unmanned aerial vehicle ("UAV"), includes an elongated fuselage having a pair of forward swept wings and a pair of rearward swept canards, the outer tips of which are respectively joined with a respective tip end portion of one of the forward swept wings. The thrust outlet of a thrust-vectoring jet engine is disposed along the roll axis of the aircraft and aft of the pitch axis thereof, and a pair of downwardly exhausting ducted lift fans, e.g., tip turbine fans, are respectively disposed within a tip end portion of respective ones of the forward swept wings such that the fans are located symmetrically with respect to each other on opposite sides of the roll axis and forward of the pitch axis. The aircraft is capable of VTOL operations, including hovering, and is highly maneuverable at both very low and very high speeds.