The Aurora X-65 CRANE is an experimental aircraft that is currently under development. In charge are the

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adva ...

(DARPA) and the

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences.

Purpose

Purpose of the X-65 aircraft is to demonstrate the feasibility of ''Active Flow Control'' (AFC). AFC utilizes bursts of air rather than moving

flight control surfaces Flight control surfaces are aerodynamic devices allowing a pilot to adjust and control the aircraft's flight attitude. The primary function of these is to control the aircraft's movement along the three axes of rotation. Flight control surfaces ...

on the exterior of the wings and tail to control its flight.

History

Aurora Flight Sciences embarked on the development of an experimental X-plane, as part of the DARPA's CRANE programme, in November 2020.

Wind tunnel A wind tunnel is "an apparatus for producing a controlled stream of air for conducting aerodynamic experiments". The experiment is conducted in the test section of the wind tunnel and a complete tunnel configuration includes air ducting to and f ...

testing was also conducted in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, in May 2022. DARPA allocated funds for the detailed engineering design of a full-scale X-plane in December 2022. Aurora Flight Sciences was commissioned to construct a full-scale X-plane in January 2024.

Acronym

The acronym CRANE refers to a DARPA programme called ''Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors''. DARPA announced the X-65 designation on its social media accounts on 15 May 2023.

References

{{US experimental aircraft DARPA projects DARPA vehicles Proposed aircraft of the United States Unmanned aerial vehicles of the United States X-65 Closed-wing aircraft Single-engined jet aircraft V-tail aircraft