DuPont Aerospace DP-1
| DP-1 | |
|---|---|
| Role | VSTOL transport demonstrator |
| National origin | United States of America |
| Manufacturer | DuPont Aerospace |
| First flight | September 2007 |
| Produced | 1 |
| Program cost | $63 million USD (entire DP-2 program) |
|
| |
The DuPont Aerospace DP-1 was a subscale prototype for a fixed-wing VSTOL transport aircraft, intended to take off and land like a helicopter and fly like an airplane. The fullscale aircraft, named DP-2, was designed to travel at high subsonic speeds with a greater range than its 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 September 2007, the DP-1 autonomous prototype achieved sustained, controlled tethered hovers of 45 seconds at the Gillespie Field test site.[1]
On June 13, 2007, the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology held a hearing about the fate of the DP-2.[2] In August 2007, funding was finally cut, after a total of $63 million spent over nearly two decades.[1]
References
- 1 2 Warwick, Graham (December 2, 2007). "DuPont's V/STOL makes the headlines again". FlightGlobal. Retrieved 2013-06-30.
- ↑ http://democrats.science.house.gov/Media/File/Commdocs/hearings/2007/oversight/12jun/hearing_charter.pdf
- "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)