On April 24, Aurora Flight Sciences announced that it had reachedan agreement with the Defense Advanced Research ProjectsAgency (DARPA) to conclude the joint hybrid-electric verticaltakeoff and landing (VTOL) X-Plane program that was developingthe XV-24A LightningStrike.“When DARPA launched the idea ofdistributed electric propulsion in 2013, it was a novel concept.Today, it is widely accepted as the catalyst to a sophisticatedelectric air transportation ecosystem, ” said Aurora’s founder, Chairman and CEO John Langford.Instead, the company wouldapply its knowledge, experience and resources toward its electricVTOL air taxi concept being developed in partnership with Uberfor its Elevate construct.The VTOL X-Plane program is considereda success, particularly due to the impressive accomplishmentsof its Subscale Vehicle Demonstrator (see “Hybrid-ElectricLightningstrike/* Vertiflite, March/April 2017).
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