The BELL SPRINT X-Plane concept
The company also unveiled new concept art for the aircraft, displaying large vertical tilt rotors not dissimilar to the V-22 Osprey. Bell described its speed as more than 400 knots.
On May 20, Aurora Flight Sciences unveiled its own concept, featuring two fans embedded within the aircraft’s fixed wings. Company officials say this fan-in-wing, or FIW, approach could power the plane to a cruise speed of 450 knots.
“The FIW technology could be scaled to four or more lift fans to meet future aircraft requirements, and it could unlock opportunities for a future family of systems. Similarly, while an uncrewed demonstrator offers benefits in testing and risk reduction, the FIW technology would be fully transferable to traditional aircraft with crews,” Aurora said in a statement.
Bell and Aurora beat out Northrop Grumman Aeronautic Systems and Piasecki Aircraft Corporation to get to this new phase of the program. But last week Northrop announced that they had been selected for a similar recent DARPA effort: the, AdvaNced airCraft Infrastructure-Less Launch And Recovery program, which seeks to build a drone that can take off from ship flight decks with minimal infrastructure.
Audrey Decker contributed to this post.
