GBA-DARPA Heliplane

Heliplane
Image of baseline GBA-DARPA Heliplane concept, showing its free-spinning rotor, which is fitted with integral tipjets, fed with bypass air from two Williams gas-turbine propulsion engines
Role Experimental helicopter
National origin United States
Manufacturer GBA-DARPA
Status under development



The GBA-DARPA Heliplane is a proof-of-concept, long-range, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft intended to cruise at twice the speed of conventional helicopters.[1] It is being funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and designed by Groen Brothers Aviation (GBA).

DARPA’s objective is to achieve performance with a rotary-wing aircraft comparable to that of a fixed-wing plane. The concept combines technical aspects of a gyroplane, which GBA has been working on since the late 1980s,[2] with a fixed-wing business jet.

The work is part of a multi-year, $40-million, four-phase program. GBA, along with Georgia Tech, Adams Aircraft Industries, and Williams International, worked on Phase 1 of that program, a 15-month effort funded at $6.4 million. Phase 1B of the program will be managed by Georgia Tech, using GBA as a subcontractor. Phase 2 development includes a "subscale wind tunnel demonstration in the high-speed, high-altitude wind tunnel at NASA Langley and the building of a full-scale tipjet nozzle. Phase 2 is anticipated to be a substantially bigger undertaking (valued at $24-28 million)."[3]

References

  1. ↑ Pengeley, R. "Gyrodyne Testing Resumes in the US," Jane's International Defence Review, June 2009, p. 13.
  2. ↑ "Best Inventions of 2001". Time. 19 November 2001.
  3. ↑ Pengeley, R (June 2009). "Gyrodyne Testing Resumes in the US". Jane's International Defence Review. p. 13.
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