A unit of Stratford aerospace manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. has won a $15 million contract from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to design a helicopter-plane hybrid for military use, the company announced.
Sikorsky Innovations will work with Lockheed Martin on the preliminary concept design for the so-called X-Plane, which DARPA wants to take off and land like a helicopter, but achieve sustained flight speeds of up to 460 miles per hour and be able to carry at least 40 percent of its weight.
The agency is awarding several other phase-one design contracts totaling $47 million. It will choose one of the designs for future development and demonstrations. DARPA wants to see a flight demonstration by the end of 2017.
Sikorsky plans to run the program from its office in Fort Worth, Texas, but some of its Stratford engineers will be involved with the project.
