Program Aims for Quick Progress on Hybrid Flying Wing

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) issued an official designation to the UAV designed under the Series Hybrid Electric Propulsion AiRcraft Demonstration program, calling it the XRQ-73.

The SHEPARD initiative sits under the X-prime program, drawing on lessons learned in the Air Force Research Laboratory's Great Horned Owl project. The XRQ-73 is designed to be a Group 3 UAS tipping the scales at about 1,250 pounds, with a first flight later this year. The program aimed to build on the Owl to create a hybrid electric architecture that goes from draft to flight in less than 20 months. Evidently, things are going well enough to issue the aircraft a real name in the pantheon of X-plane experimental aircraft.

"The idea behind a DARPA X-prime program is to take emerging technologies and burn down system-level integration risks to quickly mature a new missionized long endurance aircraft design that can be fielded quickly," said Steve Komadina, SHEPARD program manager. "The SHEPARD program is maturing a specific propulsion architecture and power class as an exemplar of potential benefits for the Department of Defense.”

The XRQ-73 is the result of a different approach from the usual DARPA fare, being a team effort on behalf of Northrop Grumman Corp, Scaled Composites, Cornerstone Research Group, Brayton Energy, PC Krause and Associates, and EaglePicher Technologies. On the institutional side, the DARPA team draws on the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and our friends from across the military.

FMI: www.darpa.mil