DD: Boeing Dragonfly UAV Completes Four-Minute Test Flight

Boeing's [BA] second canard rotor/wing (CRW) technology demonstrator--the X-50A Dragonfly unmanned air vehicle--has successfully completed a four- minute hover flight reaching an altitude of about 20 feet above ground, the company reported.

"Our first flight test objectives were met today," said Clark Mitchell, Boeing Phantom Works program manager for the CRW prototype. "This is a significant achievement toward validating the new stopped-rotor technology."

Under joint development by Boeing Phantom Works and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the CRW is a revolutionary aircraft that combines the speed and range of fixed-wing flight with the flexibility of rotary-wing flight. It also incorporates tip jet propulsion and stopped rotor technologies, according to Boeing.

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Aerospace | Engineering