Boeing X-50
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The Boeing X-50A Dragonfly, formerly known as the Canard Rotor/Wing Demonstrator, is a UAV being developed by Boeing and DARPA to demonstrate the principle that a helicopter's rotor can be stopped in flight and act as a fixed wing. The X-50A builds upon the work of the Sikorsky X-Wing program of the 1980's by designing the vehicle as a multi-mode aircraft from the ground up. The X-50A is powered by a single conventional turbofan engine, the exhaust of which is directed to the tips of the blades for rotary wing flight (used in take-off and landing), the rear nozzle for fixed wing flight, and mixed for transition between the two.
Total project cost since 1998 has amounted to US$24 million, of which Boeing and DARPA each contributed half.
The craft's maiden flight took place 24 November 2003. During the third flight, on 23 March 2004, the vehicle crashed. A second, improved prototype (Ship 2) was then built; however, Ship 2 was completely destroyed in a crash at the Yuma Proving Grounds on April 12th, 2006. No further details about the incident are currently available. With both prototypes destroyed and the rotor-stop technology still not successfully demonstrated, the future of the program is very much in doubt.
[edit] Specifications
- Length overall: 5.39m
- Height overall: 1.98m
- Wing span/rotor diameter: 3.66m
- Foreplane(canard) span: 2.71m
- Tail unit span: 2.47m
- Power unit: 1 x Williams Research F-112
- Empty weight: 574kg
- Fuel weight: 66kg
- Max payload: 91kg
- Max. take-off weight: 645kg
- Max level speed: 278km/h
- Max speed: 700 km/h
X-1 • X-2 • X-3 • X-4 • X-5 • X-6 • X-7 • X-8 • X-9 • X-10 • X-11 • X-12 • X-13 • X-14 • X-15 • X-16 • X-17 • X-18 • X-19 • X-20 • X-21 • X-22 • X-23 • X-24 • X-25 • X-26 • X-27 • X-28 • X-29 • X-30 • X-31 • X-32 • X-33 • X-34 • X-35 • X-36 • X-37 • X-38 • X-39 • X-40 • X-41 • X-42 • X-43 • X-44 • X-45 • X-46 • X-47 • X-48 • X-49 • X-50 • X-51
See also List of experimental aircraft
[edit] External links
- Boeing press release
- Boeing press release 2
- Large image of the X-50A
- Information about X-50A
- Aditional technical information
[edit] Related content
Related development: Sikorsky X-Wing
Comparable aircraft:
