DARPA Vertical Take-Off/Landing X-Plane Program Achieves Critical Milestone
A subscale vehicle demonstrator (SVD) of the Aurora Flight Sciences' "LightningStrike" Vertical Take-off and Landing Experimental Plane (VTOL x-plane) for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was successfully flown for the first time at a U.S. military facility. The flight of the subscale aircraft met an important DARPA risk reduction requirement, focusing on validation of the aerodynamic design and flight control system.