DuPont Aerospace DP-2
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The DuPont Aerospace DP-2 is a fixed-wing VSTOL transport aircraft that is designed to take off and land like a helicopter and fly like an airplane. The DP-2 is designed to travel at high subsonic speeds with a greater range than it's rotary-wing equivalent, and to allow troops to rappel from the aft cargo ramp. The development of the 53% scale DP-1 aircraft was originally funded as a manned vehicle. During the construction of the test aircraft, ONR program management changed the requirements, and mandated that the vehicle be tested as a UAV. This change added significant cost and time to the project, but in October of 2007, the DP-1 autonomous prototype achieved sustained, controlled tethered hovers of 45 seconds at the Gillespie Field test site. The requirement for military helicopters is a 30 second hover. Images and video clips of the successful flights can be downloaded at http://www.dupontaero.com/testing
The DP-2 has only one competitor currently in service, the V-22 Osprey. The services have been actively seeking an alternative to the Osprey, a slower and lower-flying aircraft that has experienced several fatalities as well as hardware and software problems throughout its $12 billion development cycle.[citation needed]
On June 13 2007, the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology held a hearing about the fate of the DP-2. [1] In August 2007, funding was cut, after a total of $63 million dollars spent over two decades, despite the successful completion of the program's primary requirement of a 30 second hover, using primarily composite materials and low-cost construction methods.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- "DP-1 UAV achieves autonomous tethered hover"
- "The Aircraft That Can't Fly; Congress' $63 Million Boondoggle" (ABC News)
- DP-2 Profile at Global Security
- "Hunter's Folly: $63 Million Aircraft Can't Fly" (Wired)
- "Heavily criticized plane is defunded" (Copley News Service)
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