DuPont Aerospace DP-1
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The DuPont Aerospace DP-1 was a subscale prototype for a fixed-wing VSTOL transport aircraft, intended to take off and land like a helicopter and fly like an airplane. The fullscale aircraft, named DP-2, was designed to travel at high subsonic speeds with a greater range than its rotary-wing equivalent, and to allow troops to rappel from the aft cargo ramp. The development of the 53% scale DP-1 aircraft was originally funded in the early 1990s as a backup to the V-22 Osprey program, which was undergoing significant technical and political challenges.[1] During the construction of the test aircraft, program management changed the requirements, and mandated that the vehicle be tested as a UAV. This change added significant cost and time to the project, but in September 2007, the DP-1 autonomous prototype achieved sustained, controlled tethered hovers of 45 seconds at the Gillespie Field test site.[2]
| DP-1 | |
|---|---|
| |
| General information | |
| Type | VSTOL transport demonstrator |
National origin | United States of America |
| Manufacturer | DuPont Aerospace |
| History | |
| Manufactured | 1 |
| First flight | September 2007 |
On June 13, 2007, the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology held a hearing about the fate of the DP-2.[3] In August 2007, funding was finally cut, after a total of $63 million spent over nearly two decades.[2]
