__NOTOC__ The DuPont Aerospace DP-1 was a subscale prototype for a

fixed-wing A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using Lift (force), aerodynamic lift. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotorcraft, rotary-wing aircraft (in which a Helicopter rotor, r ...

VSTOL A vertical and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) aircraft is an airplane able to take-off or land vertically or on short runways. Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft are a subset of V/STOL craft that do not require runways at al ...

transport aircraft, intended to take off and land like a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

and fly like an

airplane An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a vari ...

. The fullscale aircraft, named DP-2, was designed to travel at high subsonic speeds with a greater range than its

rotary-wing A rotary-wing aircraft, rotorwing aircraft or rotorcraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft with rotor wing, rotary wings that spin around a vertical mast to generate lift (force), lift. Part 1 (Definitions and Abbreviations) of Subchapter A of Chapt ...

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 The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-use, tiltrotor military transport aircraft, military transport and cargo aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing (STOL) capabilities. It is designed ...

program, which was undergoing significant technical and political challenges. 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. On June 13, 2007, the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology held a hearing about the fate of the DP-2. In August 2007, funding was finally cut, after a total of $63 million spent over nearly two decades.

References

External links

"DP-1 UAV achieves autonomous tethered hover"
* ttp://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/dp-2.htm DP-2 Profile at Global Securitybr>"Hunter's Folly: $63 Million Aircraft Can't Fly" (Wired)
* * 2000s United States military transport aircraft VTOL aircraft DP-1 Twinjets Mid-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 2007 {{aero-2000s-stub