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 (used in take-off and landing), the rear nozzle for fixed wing flight, and mixed for transition between the two.

Total project cost since 1998 has amounted to US$24 million, of which Boeing and DARPA each contributed half.

The craft's maiden flight took place 24 November 2003. During the third flight, on 23 March 2004, the vehicle crashed. A second, improved prototype (Ship 2) was then built; however, 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. With both prototypes destroyed and the rotor-stop technology still not successfully demonstrated, the future of the program is very much in doubt.

[edit] 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

[edit] External links

• Boeing press release
• Boeing press release 2
• Large image of the X-50A
• Information about X-50A
• Additional technical information

[edit] Related content

Related development: Sikorsky X-Wing