First Hover Flight Test of X-50A Dragonfly

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.

Comments

no faith whatsoever

[segment]

I thought once a person or entity had a record or issue with court they were barred from receiving government contracts... That's funny.

By BARRIE McKENNA
Tuesday, December 2, 2003 - Page B10

WASHINGTON -- Tarnished by scandal and dwindling aircraft market share, Boeing Co. has accepted the resignation of long-time chairman and chief executive officer Phil Condit as part of a dramatic front-office management shakeup.

The abrupt departure yesterday of Mr. Condit, 62, comes amid allegations that the world's largest aircraft maker may have illegally exploited U.S. government connections to gain sealed bidding information from rival Airbus Industrie during a competition for a key Air Force order.

source

Guess someone had a nice check this year.

</arrogance>

I should be shot for this, but...

[Berrik]

I for one welcome our new silicon overlords.

Berrik