DARPA has selected Boeing’s [BA] Aurora Flight Sciences, Bell [TXT], Northrop Grumman
[NOC] and Piasecki Aircraft to develop competing vertical takeoff and landing prototypes capable of flying at speeds of up to 450 knots.
Under Phase 1A of the Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT) X-Plane program, which is a joint DARPA and U.S. Special Operations Command effort, the four firms will work on conceptual designs leading to an eventual design review process.
“The SPRINT X-plane is intended to be a proof-of-concept technology demonstrator and its flight test program seeks to validate enabling technologies and integrated concepts that can be scaled to different size military aircraft. The goal of the program is to provide these aircraft with the ability to cruise at speeds from 400 to 450 knots at relevant altitudes and hover in austere environments from unprepared surfaces,” DARPA said of the program, which officially began on Nov. 1.
DARPA added the aim of SPRINT is to “demonstrate the key technologies and integrated concepts that enable a transformational combination of aircraft speed and runway independence.”
The SPRINT program is targeting the first flight of an X-plane demonstrator within 42 months, according to Aurora Flight Sciences.
“Under this award, Aurora is designing a high lift, low drag fan-in-wing demonstrator aircraft that integrates a blended wing body platform, with embedded engines and moderate sweep, with a vertical flight design comprised of embedded lift fans linked to the engines via mechanical drives,” Aurora Flight Sciences said in a statement. “The combined Aurora and Boeing team brings deep experience in agile vehicle prototyping, vertical lift and cruise transition technology, and blended wing body aero performance.”
Aurora Flight Sciences said its work on DARPA’s SPRINT program will build on experience with the Boeing X-48 blending wing body aircraft and its own Aurora Excalibur UAS, which it said “combined jet-borne vertical lift with three electric, louvered lift fans that would retract into the wing in forward flight.”
NASA and Boeing in 2013 completed flight testing of the X-48 demonstrator at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center (Defense Daily, April 14, 2013).
Bell has cited plans to leverage its “extensive investment in High-Speed Vertical Takeoff and Landing (HSVTOL) technology” in its work on SPRINT, noting the company is currently conducting risk reduction testing at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico “to demonstrate its folding rotor, integrated propulsion and flight control technologies using a dedicated test article.”
“Bell is honored to be selected for SPRINT and thrilled to support another X-plane, which will bring unprecedented speed to vertical lift aircraft,” Jason Hurst, Bell’s executive vice president for engineering, said in a statement on Monday. “In our rich 85-year history, Bell has produced memorable X-planes, such as the Bell X-1 and XV-15, and expanded our VTOL aircraft capabilities. This contract award is a testament to Bell’s ability to build on past successful high-speed aircraft programs while investing in new research to validate HSVTOL technology.”
Northrop Grumman and Piasecki Aircraft have not yet detailed their participation in Phase 1A of DARPA’s SPRINT program.