SOCOM wants SpecOps troops to fly into the fight like the Avengers
Imagine a team of special operations forces flying into a hostile area in a sleek, high-speed aircraft that can take off and land vertically like a helicopter, but fly like a jet. Sounds like something out of a Marvel movie, right? Well, this futuristic vision could soon become a reality, thanks to a new project by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM).
The project, called Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT), aims to develop a new aircraft concept that can combine the best of both worlds: the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capabilities of a helicopter and the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft. The goal is to create a platform that can provide superior flexibility and operational performance to the military in the future, especially for missions that require rapid insertion and extraction of personnel, cargo, or equipment in contested, resource-constrained, and runway-independent settings.
DARPA and SOCOM have selected four companies to participate in the first phase of the SPRINT project, which involves conceptual design and feasibility analysis. These companies are Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing company; Northrop Grumman; Bell Textron; and Piasecki Aircraft Corporation. Each company will receive up to $950,000 to develop their proposals and present them to DARPA and SOCOM by June 2022. After that, one or more companies will be chosen to proceed to the second phase, which involves risk reduction and detailed design. The final phase will involve building and flying a full-scale demonstrator aircraft within 42 months.
One of the most intriguing proposals comes from Aurora Flight Sciences, which has revealed a high-speed, vertical-lift X-plane concept that features a fan-in-wing configuration. This means that the aircraft has a blended-wing-body (BWB) design, with four vertical-lift propellers embedded in the wing. The propellers are linked to the engines via mechanical drives, and can be retracted into the wing during forward flight. The BWB design offers several advantages, such as low drag, high lift, and increased payload capacity. Aurora claims that its X-plane concept can achieve speeds over 450 knots (about 517 mph) while maintaining VTOL capabilities.
Aurora has a lot of experience in developing innovative aircraft concepts, especially in the field of VTOL and BWB technologies. The company has been involved in several DARPA projects, such as the VTOL X-Plane (VXP) program, which resulted in the LightningStrike demonstrator, a hybrid-electric tilt-wing aircraft that could fly at 300 to 400 knots. Aurora also participated in the Boeing X-48 program, which tested a series of BWB aircraft prototypes in collaboration with NASA and Cranfield Aerospace. In addition, Aurora has been developing its own passenger-carrying eVTOL aircraft, called the Passenger Air Vehicle (PAV), which made its first flight in 2019.
Aurora is not the only company that has been working on high-speed VTOL aircraft concepts. Bell Textron, for example, has been exploring various HSVTOL designs, such as a tilt-rotor aircraft with a canard wing and a ducted-fan aircraft with a lifting body. Bell is also the manufacturer of the V-22 Osprey, a tilt-rotor aircraft that is currently used by the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy for various missions, including special operations. The V-22 can fly at speeds up to 275 knots (about 316 mph), but it has some limitations, such as high noise, large rotor diameter, and complex maintenance. The SPRINT project aims to overcome these challenges and create a more advanced and versatile platform for the future.
The SPRINT project is not the only effort to develop high-speed VTOL aircraft for the military. The U.S. Air Force, in collaboration with AFWERX, a technology incubator, has also launched a High-Speed VTOL Challenge, which seeks to solicit ideas from industry, academia, and government for new platforms that can fly faster than 250 knots (about 288 mph) and operate in austere environments. The challenge received 218 submissions, and 11 of them were selected for further development. Some of the selected concepts include a hybrid-electric tilt-duct aircraft, a distributed propulsion aircraft, and a ducted-fan aircraft with a variable-geometry wing.
The interest in high-speed VTOL aircraft is not limited to the military domain. The commercial sector is also exploring the potential of this technology for various applications, such as urban air mobility, cargo delivery, and emergency response. Several companies, such as Airbus, Joby Aviation, and Lilium, have been developing and testing their own eVTOL aircraft, which can offer fast, clean, and convenient transportation in congested and remote areas. However, these aircraft are still far from reaching the speed and performance levels of the SPRINT project.
The SPRINT project is an ambitious and exciting endeavor that could revolutionize the way special operations forces conduct their missions in the future. By combining the advantages of VTOL and fixed-wing aircraft, the SPRINT X-plane could offer unprecedented speed, agility, and versatility in the battlespace, enabling the troops to fly into the fight like the Avengers. Of course, there are still many technical and operational challenges to overcome, such as noise reduction, power management, safety, and reliability. But if the project succeeds, it could pave the way for a new generation of aircraft that can change the face of warfare and aviation.
