ANALYSIS – It is well understood that when it comes to hi-tech toys, gizmos, weapons and gear, the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) gets priority from the Pentagon. And the SOCOM commandos deserve it.
That’s why it should not come as a surprise that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched a program for a shiny new toy for SOCOM – a ‘runway-independent’ X-plane to quickly get in and out of hotspots.
DARPA calls it the Speed and Runway Independent Technologies, or SPRINT, X-plane.
The announcement, which initially appeared on the social media business platform, LinkedIn, stated that this aircraft was “envisioned as the ability to operate and hover near unprepared surfaces, such as sections of damaged runways, remote highways/roadways, unprepared fields with dry grass, parking lots, etc.”
DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office said it is soliciting proposals to design, build, certify and fly an X-plane to demonstrate speed and runway independence for the next generation of air mobility platforms.
So, it’s basically a type of agile Vertical/Short Take Off and Landing (V/STOL) aircraft that can travel faster than a conventional helicopter and hopefully far more quietly.
This may be related to a previous announcement in January of a stealthy X-plane demonstrator aircraft DARPA was creating without external moving parts, mechanical flight controls or control surfaces.
This new SOCOM bird could be an entirely novel concept or might incorporate aspects of the earlier announced X-plane aircraft design. The new statement did not mention whether the new aircraft would be crewed, uncrewed or ‘optionally piloted.’
DARPA also did not mention whether it should use conventional or hybrid engines, only that it “must demonstrate the ability to generate and distribute power in all modes of flight and during transition between these modes of flight.”
The new announcement said that the aircraft must be scalable, able to cruise at speeds of 400 to 450 knots and fly at altitudes between 15,000 and 30,000 feet for one and a half hours, or a distance of 200 nautical miles.
The X-plane must also carry a payload of 5,000 pounds in a 30-foot-long, eight-foot-wide cargo bay. This could include a small vehicle or two and a half pallets.
In January, The Aviationist reported on the earlier stealthy concept saying that: “Unique features of the demonstrator aircraft will include modular wing configurations that enable future integration of advanced technologies for flight testing either by DARPA or potential transition partners.”
That demonstrator is being built by Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing company.
The outlet continued:
“Aurora’s X-plane candidate uses active flow control (AFC) for multiple effects, including flight control at tactical speeds and performance enhancement across the flight envelope,” says the company public release issued in December 2022.
The Aviationist writer concluded:
AFC technology is being considered as a way to achieve Low Observability (LO) on future combat aircraft: by design, moving control surfaces require actuators, gaps and edges that have an impact on the all-aspect radar cross section (RCS) of the aircraft; when deflected, such control surfaces alter the overall shape of the aircraft potentially affecting its LO. For this reason, future aircraft (including the NGAD) will probably make use of a combination of airflow control and a thrust-vectoring to fly and maneuver.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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Build 2,3 & test in the US alone
Then mass produce
Too little too late – China will not let this project happen.
Of course they will. They can’t STEAL the technology until someone pays to develop it.