Abstract: With CFD-based local piston theory, expressions have been derived for the unsteady aerodynamic forces acting on the fuselage and wing. The flutter characteristics of a wing-fuselage complete vehicle have been studied. The flutter boundary results by CFD-based local piston theory agree well with those by the CFD/CSD direct coupling method, demonstrating that this approach is suitable and efficient for the flutter analysis of a wing-fuselage complete vehicle at high angles of attack.