After stagnating for over 20 years, the VTOL, or vertical takeoff and landing fleet of the US military is looking is looking for a new pinnacle of engineering achievement.
After stagnating for over 20 years, the VTOL, or vertical takeoff and landing fleet of the US military is looking for a new pinnacle of engineering achievement.
The last one was the V-22 Osprey, a tilt rotor aircraft that can travel at up to 250 miles per hour and carry two dozen troops around 1000 nautical miles. Impressive, but apparently that’s so two decades ago.
Mission tactics have changed and so must the equipment used to carry them out.
With an increased focus on strikes that are fast and covert, like the Osama Bin Laden one, the military is finding itself in need of an aircraft better able to do the job.
Both the Army and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, have reached out to engineers to come up with advancements in the field.
The Army is looking for new technologies, and DARPA has announced they’re looking for something completely revolutionary.
The latter’s 130 million dollar VTOL X-Plane program manager offered some insight into what they don’t want to see, saying, "Strapping rockets onto the back of a helicopter is not the type of approach we're looking for…”
