speed of the Bell V-280, with a goal of achieving 400 kt.X-Plane 12 Digital Download Welcome to flight simulation… done right. Finally, the Speed and Runway Independent Technology (Sprint) project will seek to push the boundaries of high-speed VTOL beyond the 300-kt. “So we’re actually looking at the Liberty Lifter in particular to re-baseline that program.”Ī vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) X-plane funded by the Advanced Aircraft Infrastructure-Less Launch and Recovery (Ancillary) program also is in the concept definition stage, with multiple companies competing to design a MQ-9-size UAS that can operate from a destroyer-size ship. “Could we build a slightly smaller airplane with the money that we’ve set aside and actually solve problems?” Plaks asks. But the original program also called for other advanced features, including a distributed, hybrid-electric propulsion system and C-17-size cargo volume. The program was conceived in 2021 with two breakthrough goals: applying the shipbuilding industry’s cheaper structural materials to a transport aircraft and mastering the autonomous algorithms required to safely fly a wing-in-ground-effect vessel slightly above rolling seas with waves up to 18 ft. The new philosophy has prompted an internal review of the Liberty Lifter program, which entered the concept definition phase last year with awards to GA-ASI and Aurora Flight Sciences. It is all about testing out the aerodynamics and building the design tools that would allow you to build a real operational airplane.” “It’s never going to be an operational airplane or even close to one. “The airplane that we’re building is very much a technology demonstrator,” Plaks says. The development strategy of CRANE is typical of the new model for DARPA’s X-Plane projects. Meanwhile, Boeing and Aurora Flight Sciences have entered Phase 2 of the Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors (CRANE) program, which will finalize the design of the X-65 UAS with fluidic flight controls. (GA-ASI) to start building the LongShot X-plane, an air-launched uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) designed to fire multiple air-to-air missiles and extend the striking power of fourth-generation fighters. In July, DARPA awarded a $94 million contract to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. The Series Hybrid Electric Propulsion Aircraft Demonstrator (Shepard)-a stealthy follow-on to the Northrop Grumman XRQ-72 Great Horned Owl-is scheduled to enter flight testing by year-end. Since 2020, DARPA has advanced two programs to the agency’s Phase 3, the start of manufacturing. it increases our likelihood of getting partners to join us on a follow-on phase.” “But if I can build a smaller airplane and demonstrate that we’ve slain the dragon and actually solved the technical issue. “If I were to go to the Navy or the Air Force and say, ‘I need $100 million for your share to build this airplane we don’t even know if it’s going to work,’ that’s a hard thing to do,” Plaks says. Instead of asking for tens or hundreds of millions of dollars up front from one or more of the armed services, the agency’s program managers are now trying to self-fund projects at a smaller level to demonstrate whether the essential breakthrough technology works. In many cases, DARPA has reversed the process of soliciting the armed services for financial support for a new project. But you’re not really answering the question.” We’re engineers, and we like to build stuff. “And that’s very unsatisfying for a couple reasons. And if we didn’t get partner funding, we wouldn’t build it,” he says. We would design the plane, but then look for partner funding to help build it. we would kind of build a bridge to nowhere. Two have been built or are in manufacturing, another is in design finalization, and the last three are involved in competitions to select a manufacturer.Ī new strategy DARPA embraced in 2020 is responsible for ushering X-plane programs beyond the design phase, Plaks says. Unlike most of their predecessors, all six appear on track to break the two-decade-old trend. Ken Plaks, the newly appointed director of DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, inherits a diverse portfolio that includes six X-plane projects (see table).
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