DARPA Announces VTOL X-Plane Phase 2 Design

choi

Press release: DARPA Announces VTOL X-Plane Phase 2 Design; Unorthodox unmanned aircraft would push the limits of technology to combine plane-like speed and helicopter-like agility into one breakthrough vehicle. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Mar 3, 2016.
www.darpa.mil/news-events/2016-03-03

Quote:

"Aurora's Phase 2 design for VTOL X-Plane envisions an unmanned aircraft with two large rear wings and two smaller front canards—short winglets mounted near the nose of the aircraft. A turboshaft engine—one used in V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft—mounted in the fuselage would provide 3 megawatts (4,000 horsepower) of electrical power, the equivalent of an average commercial wind turbine. The engine would drive 24 ducted fans, nine integrated into each wing and three inside each canard. Both the wings and the canards would rotate to direct fan thrust as needed: rearward for forward flight, downward for hovering and at angles during transition between the two.

"The design envisions an aircraft that could fly fast and far, hover when needed * * * The program has the goal of performing flight tests in the 2018 timeframe. * * * This VTOL X-plane won’t be in volume production in the next few years

Note:
(a) Please take notice that the top image has in the lower right corner "ARTIST'S CONCEPT."  The video clip is also artist's concept, namely a cartoon. No model has been tested.

(b)
(i) canard (aeronautics)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canard_(aeronautics)
(Rather than use the conventional tailplane configuration found on most aircraft, an aircraft designer may adopt the canard configuration; section 1 Etymology: The term "canard" arose from the appearance of the Santos-Dumont 14-bis of 1906, which was said to be reminiscent of a duck ([noun masculine] canard in French) with its neck stretched out in flight)
(ii) Santos-Dumont 14-bis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santos-Dumont_14-bis
(section 2 Design)
(A) What this Wiki page say: A pilot stood in between the wings, which were situated at the back of the bi-plane ("The wings, each made up of three cells [ie, three boxes], were at the back"). "A [just one] movable boxkite-style cell at the nose[front], pivoted on a universal joint within it and controlled by cables was intended for yaw and pitch control."
(B) "Santos Dumont called the airplane the 14-bis, meaning '14-encore' since the airplane made its first appearance suspended from the belly of Santos Dumont's No 14 dirigible [an airship. that is]."

The Case for Alberto Santos Dumont. Wright Brothers Aeroplane Co (a virtual museum of pioneer aviation), undated.
www.wright-brothers.org/History_ ... t/Santos_Dumont.htm
(C) French English dictionary:

bis (etymology in this sense: from Latin bis ‎twice)
* (adv): "1: again (a second time); encore
2: (in street numbering) a; designating a second residence with the same number <12 bis, rue des Carmelites>"
* (n): "encore"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bis

Personally, I do not think it is encore, but rather definition 2 as the adverb.
(iii) China's J-20 has a pair of canards, but J-31 does not.

(c) ducted fan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ducted_fan
(d) VTOL X-Plane
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VTOL_X-Plane
("A helicopter with a conventional rotor layout has a theoretical top speed of 200 kn (230 mph; 370 km/h), after which it suffers from dissymmetry of lift. Some designs have successfully created hovering and high-speed aircraft, including the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor that can fly at 275 kn (316 mph; 509 km/h) and the Sikorsky X2 compound helicopter that flew at 260 kn (300 mph; 480 km/h), but both made significant aerodynamic compromises to hovering efficiency or range. DARPA's goal is to demonstrate a VTOL aircraft that can achieve a sustained top speed of 300 to 400 knots (345 to 460 mph (555 to 740 km/h))" -- citing a Mar 19, 2016 report at News.USNI.org)

choi

Ashish Bagai, Vertical Takeoff and Landing Experimental Plane (VTOL X-Plane). DARPA, undated
http://www.darpa.mil/program/ver ... -experimental-plane
("For the past 60 years, helicopters have provided essential vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capabilities–omnidirectional maneuverability, hovering, landing on almost any flat surface–for countless military operations. Even as VTOL aircraft technology continues to advance, however, one key goal still remains elusive: improving top speed beyond 150 kt-170 kt. * * * Unfortunately, new VTOL designs so far have been unable to increase top speed without unacceptable compromises in range, efficiency, useful payload or simplicity of design")

Note:
(a) This is the program DARPA puts forth that culminated in the Mar 3, 2016 award to Aurora, which was deemed the most superb among the various designs entered into the contest.

(b) There is no need to read the rest. I just wonder why "60 years."  In helicopter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter
(section 1.6 Turbine age: "it was the Sud Aviation Alouette II that would become the first helicopter to be produced with a turbine-engine. Reliable helicopters capable of stable hover flight were developed decades after fixed-wing aircraft. This is largely due to higher engine power density requirements than fixed-wing aircraft")
(i) Sud Aviation (French; state-owned; 1957-1970; after successive mergers, now part of Airbus Group)
(ii) French English dictionary:
* alouette (noun feminine): "lark (bird)"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/alouette  
(iii) Aérospatiale Alouette II
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aérospatiale_Alouette_II
(was the first production helicopter to use a gas turbine engine instead of the conventional heavier piston powerplant; First flight 1955; Introduction 1957)