Aurora Flight Sciences has completed its conceptual design of an experimental vertical-takeoff-and-landing plane for the Pentagon and is shifting into the subsequent part.
Aurora’s blended-wing design for the SPRINT, or Pace and Runway Impartial Applied sciences, program will now begin the preliminary design course of, the corporate mentioned Monday.
The Protection Superior Analysis Tasks Company desires its SPRINT vertical takeoff plane, dubbed X-plane, to have the ability to fly at speeds between 400 and 450 knots, far quicker than the V-22 Osprey’s most pace of 270 knots. SPRINT additionally ought to have the ability to hover in a secure method, transition from hovering to ahead flight, and have a distributed power system that successfully powers all of the propulsion know-how throughout that transition, a DARPA official advised Protection Information in December 2023.
DARPA is leaving it as much as firms to resolve whether or not their plane must be crewed, uncrewed or capable of fly autonomously.
4 firms — Boeing subsidiary Aurora, Bell Textron, Northrop Grumman and Piasecki Plane Corp. — obtained six-month contracts from DARPA in November 2023 to start out their conceptual designs.
DARPA awarded Aurora a $25 million contract modification on April 30 to maintain engaged on its model of SPRINT. This represents a big increase to Aurora’s funding, which was beforehand $4.2 million.
Thus far, Aurora is the one firm to obtain one other contract to maneuver ahead on the SPRINT program, however extra may very well be on the way in which. DARPA mentioned in December that it plans to chop at the very least one of many 4 firms from rivalry after the conceptual design part.
The company declined to remark Tuesday on potential SPRINT contract awards.
Aurora’s blended-wing plane design would use three embedded raise followers to fly vertically after which shift to a set of embedded engines to fly ahead. This design would minimize down on drag and permit it to fly at excessive pace, the corporate mentioned, making the idea nicely fitted to air mobility and particular operations missions.
The corporate launched new idea artwork Monday that reveals its plane can be uncrewed and have a composite exterior. The agency mentioned the plane can attain a cruise pace of 450 knots.
Aurora mentioned it may add extra raise followers to its fan-in-wing design — if the army’s necessities for such an plane chang — and create a crewed plane utilizing the identical fan know-how.
Aurora mentioned its SPRINT crew expects to complete the preliminary design overview in about one 12 months, with a purpose of its first flight in three years.
Bell is taking a special method than Aurora on SPRINT, having launched idea artwork in November 2023 exhibiting a tiltrotor design not far off from the standard Osprey plane.
DARPA also awarded Aurora an $8.3 million contract modification earlier this month to maintain designing an experimental heavy cargo seaplane, known as Liberty Lifter.