David Axe, Daily Beast: DARPA’s New ‘LighteningStrike’ Plane: Up Like a Chopper, Out Like a Jet
The U.S. military thinks it may have found the holy grail of aviation—but will the new hybrids be any safer than the deadly Ospreys?
An aircraft that can take off and land vertically like a helicopter—and yet cruise fast and far like an airplane—is arguably the holy grail of U.S. military aviation.
After decades of near misses, the Pentagon’s scientists think the hybrid-flight grail is finally within reach. In early March, the fringe-science Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced it was awarding a contract to Aurora Flight Sciences, a Virginia aerospace firm, to build a new kind of vertical-takeoff and -landing, or VTOL, aircraft—one that the agency claims can overcome fundamental problems with hybrid aircraft designs.
Aurora calls the new experimental aircraft “LightningStrike.” In its prototype form, LightningStrike will be on the small side—weighing in at just five or six tons—and robotic. The military and Aurora both said that it would be possible to scale up LightningStrike and add human pilots.
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Previous Post: A Look At DARPA's Experimental Helicopter Plane
WNU Editor: This is still just a concept/work in progress .... but its future does look interesting.
2 comments:
I like it when you get its and it's right ;)
Could this be the solution to shuttling people and goods to/from flying airports?
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