Anyone seen this one?
Press Release
October 2, 2007
Gillespie Field, El Cajon, CA
On September 30, 2007, the duPont Aerospace Company Inc. successfully demonstrated
controlled, autonomous tethered hover of the world’s first turbofan powered
vertical/short takeoff and landing jet transport aircraft (VSTOL). The DP-1C, using two
Pratt & Whitney Canada 535A engines, hovered twice for 45 seconds. This is well in
excess of the 30 second military demonstration required for helicopters.
The DP-1C research and development prototype is a 53% scale model of the DP-2
VSTOL jet transport. The DP-2 is a high speed, long range aircraft designed to carry
passengers, troops or cargo. The airplane is constructed primarily of carbon-composite,
including the proprietary thrust vectoring system (TVS). The TVS turns the hot engine
exhaust through 90 degrees to achieve vertical takeoffs and landings. The TVS is rotated
to a horizontal configuration in order to transition to conventional forward flight from a
hover. In the stowed TVS configuration, the DP-2 will takeoff and land like a traditional
airplane.
Under the direction of the Office of Naval Research, duPont has developed the concept
into an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in order to minimize risk. This UAV was
tethered to an elevated test stand at their facility at Gillespie Field in El Cajon, CA. With
NASA’s assistance, it has gone through a series of refinements in preparation for
eventual manned flight.
During this process, the reliability of the system has been proven to be equivalent to
commercial airline dispatch reliability. Flights were routinely conducted every hour,
with over 100 completed to date. For these flights, the pilot was used only to start the
engines, and remained on standby in a nearby control vehicle in case of an emergency.
The flight control software controlled the plane during liftoff, and hover, maintaining
attitude and position autonomously.
The duPont DP-2 will enable airlines and business jet operators to utilize over 5,000
small domestic airports, which are currently too small to accommodate the long runway
requirements inherent in high speed jet aircraft.
The military can operate the DP-2 out of remote and unprepared sites, getting troops and
supplies into and out of the exact point where they are needed. The range of the DP-2
permits delivery from a long distance, and its high speed ingress and egress makes the
aircraft less susceptible to being shot down in hostile territory. In this type of military
operation, “Speed is life”.
A video clip of the two tests can be found online at:
http://www.dupontaero.com/testing/
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