Aircraft
U.S. Team Pushes Boundaries of VTOL Flight, Electric Propulsion
An Aurora Flight Sciences-led team plans to fly the XV-24A LightningStrike aircraft in late 2018.

A U.S. industry team headed by Aurora Flight Sciences has demonstrated that a subscale version of a novel vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL), forward-flying unmanned aircraft design actually works. The challenge now is to build into a full-scale aircraft the hybrid-electric propulsion system that will make it radically faster and more efficient than today’s helicopters.