DARPA’s Selects Four Developers for new X-Plane Program

Defense Update: DARPA has tasked four companies with designing new aircraft to revolutionise vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) flight capabilities. The four are Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation, The Boeing Company, Karem Aircraft, Inc. and Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. The next major milestone for VTOL X-Plane is scheduled for late 2015, when the four performers are required to submit preliminary designs. At that point, DARPA plans to review the designs to decide which to build as a technology demonstrator, with the goal of performing flight tests in the 2017-18 timeframe.

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