Four companies will submit design proposals to build a high-speed experimental vertical takeoff and landing demonstrator for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA announced. “The proposals we’ve chosen aim to create new technologies and incorporate existing ones that VTOL designs so far have not succeeded in developing,” said DARPA Program Manager Ashish Bagai in a March 18 release. The agency selected Aurora Flight Sciences, Boeing, Karem Aircraft, and Sikorsky Aircraft to develop VTOL designs capable of a top speed between 300 knots and 400 knots, without sacrificing range and payload. Craft should be capable of carrying a payload of 40 percent of their gross weight, attain a hovering efficiency of 75 percent, and double the lift-to-drag ratio of current designs, according to the release. The agency plans to select a winning design in late 2015, which would be built and test-flown in the “2017-18 timeframe,” according to DARPA. “For generations, new designs for vertical takeoff and landing aircraft have remained unable to increase top speed without sacrificing range, efficiency, or the ability to do useful work,” states the release. The VTOL Experimental Plane program “seeks to overcome these challenges through innovative cross-pollination between the fixed-wing and rotary-wing worlds . . .”
Pentagon Releases Cost of Living, BAH Rates for 2026
Dec. 30, 2025
The Pentagon will pay cost of living allowances to 127,000 service members in the continental U.S. in 2026, an increase of 66,000 members in 2025. Airmen and Guardians across the U.S. will also receive an average increase of 4.2 percent for their Basic Housing Allowance, compared to the 5.4 percent…
