DP-1
Role VSTOL transport demonstrator
National origin United States of America
Manufacturer DuPont Aerospace
First flight September 2007
Produced 1

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]

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]

References

  1. ↑ Slattery, Chad (May 2014). "The Puzzle of Vertical Takeoff". Air & Space/Smithsonian. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2017-11-18.
  2. 1 2 Warwick, Graham (December 2, 2007). "DuPont's V/STOL makes the headlines again". FlightGlobal. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  3. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-06-12. Retrieved 2007-06-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)


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