Bell is awarded Phase 2 funding for DARPA X-Plane

Artist’s concept of the Bell X-Plane. Source | Bell Textron Inc.

Bell Textron Inc. (Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.), a Textron Inc. company, has been down-selected for Phase 2 of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT) X-Plane program with the objective to complete design, construction, ground testing and certification of an X-plane demonstrator.

Aviation Week reports that DARPA selected Bell over “a rival bid from Boeing-owned Aurora Flight Sciences to enter Phase 2 of the SPRINT program, which calls for building the X-plane.” Aurora, however, still plans to pursue its technology; testing performed during Phase 1 validated the feasibility of the fan-in-wing technology. 

“Bell is is excited to demonstrate a new aircraft with the first-ever stop/fold technology,” says Jason Hurst, senior vice president, engineering, Bell. “This is an achievement we’ve been working toward for over 10 years.”

Aviation Week notes that this stop/fold technology “overcomes the roughly 300-knot speed limitation of aircraft such as the U.S. Army’s MV-75 and the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey.”

The goal of the program is to provide these aircraft with the ability to cruise at speeds from 400-450 knots at relevant altitudes and hover in austere environments from unprepared surfaces. In Phase 1A and 1B, Bell completed conceptual and preliminary design efforts for the SPRINT X-plane. Phase 2 includes detailed design and build culminating in flight test during Phase 3.

In preparation for X-plane development, Bell has completed significant risk reduction activities including demonstrating folding rotor, integrated propulsion and flight control technologies at Holloman Air Force base as well as wind tunnel testing at the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University.

Bell has a history of breaking barriers and high-speed vertical lift technology development, with VTOL configurations like the X-14, X-22, XV-3 and XV-15 for NASA, the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, and continues to build on the legacy of the Bell X-1.