Image: Some of Darpa’s imagined designs for its new VTOL X-Plane program. Image: DarpaDarpa Wants to Rethink the Helicopter to Make It Go Way Faster -- Danger Room
Helicopters are great. They’re maneuverable in very tight spaces, they haul heavy things relative to their small sizes — and, very importantly, they take off and land vertically, removing the need for a big airstrip or aircraft-carrier deck. That function is so important to the military that the U.S. designed fixed-wing aircraft to do the same thing, like the Marines’ iconic Harrier jet or their weird tilt-rotor Osprey.
And they actually all suck, according to the Pentagon’s blue-sky researchers at Darpa, who are launching an effort to blow up and re-imagine helicopters, jump jets and tilt-rotors. It’s time to make these “VTOL” aircraft — the collective term for Vertical Take-Off and Landing — way, way faster, without sacrificing their ability to hover or other functionality.
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My Comment: So .... what Darpa wants is a 'helicopter' that comes in fast, lands fast, and leaves fast. Hmmmm ..... easier said than done.