Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Aurora Wins Darpa Contract to Build Novel Drone Demonstrator
The unmanned aircraft manufacturer plans to start flight-testing its 'LightningStrike' technology demonstrator in 2018.
An artist's rendering shows the Aurora Flight Sciences' LightningStrike vertical takeoff and landing aircraft design. (Image: Darpa)
An artist's rendering shows the Aurora Flight Sciences' LightningStrike vertical takeoff and landing aircraft design. (Image: Darpa)

Aurora Flight Sciences was awarded an $89.4 million contract from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) to build a novel, hybrid electric-powered aircraft under the agency’s vertical takeoff and landing experimental plane (VTOL X-Plane) project. Aurora plans to start flight testing its unmanned “LightningStrike” technology demonstrator in 2018.

The Department of Defense announced the second- and third-phase contract award to Aurora, an unmanned aircraft systems manufacturer based in Manassas, Va., on March 3. Three companies competed for the contract, however, Darpa would not identify the losing bidders. In March 2014, the agency awarded first-phase contracts to Aurora, Boeing, Karem Aircraft and Sikorsky Aircraft to develop preliminary designs.

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