Boeing X-50 Dragonfly
US experimental drone aircraft / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Boeing X-50A Dragonfly, formerly known as the Canard Rotor/Wing Demonstrator, was a VTOL rotor wing experimental unmanned aerial vehicle that was developed by Boeing and DARPA to demonstrate the principle that a helicopter's rotor could be stopped in flight and act as a fixed wing, enabling it to transition between fixed-wing and rotary-wing flight.
X-50 Dragonfly | |
---|---|
Role | Experimental UAV rotorcraft |
Manufacturer | Boeing |
First flight | 24 November 2003 |
Status | Canceled |
Primary user | DARPA |
Number built | 2 |
The X-50A built upon the work of the Sikorsky S-72 X-Wing program of the 1980s by designing the vehicle as a multi-mode aircraft from the ground up. The X-50A was one of two projects funded by DARPA in its "Heliplane" program.[1][2]
Neither of the two prototype aircraft ever successfully transitioned to full forward flight. DARPA withdrew funding for the X-50 program in late 2006 due to inherent design flaws.[1]