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, the rear nozzle for fixed wing flight, and mixed for transition between the two.
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.
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
| American X-planes | ||||
External links
- [Boeing press release]
- [Boeing press release 2]
- [Large image of the X-50A]
- [Information about X-50A]
- [Aditional technical information]
Related content
Related development: Sikorsky X-WingComparable aircraft:
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