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First Hover Flight Test of X-50A Dragonfly

Posted by michael on from the feeling-lucky dept.

kbielefe writes "On Wednesday, flight testing began on the X-50A dragonfly canard rotor wing unmanned aircraft. For those of you not familiar with the dragonfly, its rotors work like a helicopter for takeoff, hovering, and slow-speed manouvering, and then lock into place like a fixed-wing aircraft for cruising. The X-50A's reaction drive makes it "much lighter, simpler and more affordable to operate and support than traditional rotorcraft." And the technology is scalable to larger, manned vehicles. Truly a revolutionary aircraft, with a multitude of potential military and commercial applications." There are some more photos and artwork.

2 of 301 comments (clear)

  1. That was fast by teklob · · Score: 5, Funny

    The poll predicted flying cars within our lifetime.
    That sure was fast...

  2. Re:Great technology by Total_Wimp · · Score: 4, Funny

    "I love how the pictures just have to include one of these plans shooting a missle. You'd think the atomic bomb would've taught us all a lesson."

    Umm.... It's a military project. Maybe it's time we come to grips with the grim fact that military projects sometimes include missles.

    TW