10 ms·

DARPA’s new X-76

229 points by newer_vienna 7mo ago

einpoklum 7mo ago
And the US will use it to invade your country and kidnap your president if s/he doesn't do what Uncle Sam tells him to.
thatmf 7mo ago
[flagged]
- bak3y 7mo ago
  hopefully we never will - the last thing I want the government MORE involved in is healthcare
  - vicnov 7mo ago
    It is a fascinating take. I am curious to understand what model you think would work. The U.S. effectively has a dysfunctional system with wild mix of "no regulation" and heavy state participation. I am not sure there is any country with a deregulated system where people can enjoy good healthcare. You could theoretically say that Switzerland does this, but the government there requires everyone to have insurance, even though hospitals are 100% private.
    - bak3y 7mo ago
      There's no magic wand fix to healthcare, it and the related insurance industry are incredibly busted. What I am dead certain of though is that involving the government in it will be worse, not better.
dash2 7mo ago
“ With SPRINT, we're not just building an X-plane; we're building options”. Found the guy who couldn’t be bothered to write his own press release…
- notahacker 7mo ago
  Good to hear that the DoD's new contract with OpenAI is solving all the most important problems...
- O5vYtytb 7mo ago
  It's a quote from someone...?
  - jdiez17 7mo ago
    ... who probably wrote their prepared PR statement with an LLM.
    - esseph 7mo ago
      I have always talked/written like this. now that LLMs do it in a similar enough way, my own writing gets called AI slop. I just wish my rotator cuffs knew I was a robot.
      - jacquesm 7mo ago
        Skimping on the service again, are we?
        deleted 7mo ago
        [deleted]
      - irl_zebra 7mo ago
        It's probably good signal at least, if not a bit of a harsh thing to say that I don't mean in a bad way, that your writing was bland or mediocre since LLMs are basically regression to the mean.
- bigyabai 7mo ago
  It feels like DARPA has fallen so far. In a post-Salt Typhoon era it's really hard to imagine them as dynamic, best-in-class innovators anymore.
PowerElectronix 7mo ago
It looks like a maintenance nightmare with those clutches to decouple the blades and the mechanisms to have them folded during cruising. Does it even improve substantially in anh metric over the V280 to put money into it?
- cucumber3732842 7mo ago
  The V280 is designed to be cheap (a very relative term here). Reading between the lines, I suspect "fast, but also expensive" was a design option that popped up and was not chosen earlier in the V280 program and now Darpa wants to pay to see where it goes.
  - Zigurd 7mo ago
    Hard to be more expensive than F-35B.
    - XorNot 7mo ago
      The F-35 is cheaper then some new production 4th generation fighters at this point.
      - Zigurd 7mo ago
        The sticker price is competitive but the cost per flight hour and the availability factor is pretty horrifying. Factoring in the cost of flying and the availability makes the Grippen about half the cost. I wonder if the flight hour cost of F 35 includes the maintenance it's undergoing when it's not available.
        bigyabai 7mo ago
        The Gripen is a fantastic jet, but you're basically describing the difference between a fourth and fifth generation platform. When Saab and Embraer roll out their own fifth-generation jets, they will also have to contend with expensive RAM coating and complex internal hardpoints. Putting aside the export market, it's a small miracle that the F-35 turned out as well as it did. Having a mostly-common fighter airframe shared between the Navy, Marines and Air Force was a pipe dream in the 90s. America is lucky the program didn't collapse entirely.
ceejayoz 7mo ago
So it's an Osprey with a jet in the back?
- torginus 7mo ago
  Usually with these programs, they just commission an artist with some vague description, like they tell him to draw a futuristic VTOL aircraft, these pics have zero bearing on what gets delivered. Sometimes they even take the piss with this, like in this video for a next-gen engine, where you can see their engine doesn't even fit in their fantasy aircraft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCHun6rxQm0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCHun6rxQm0
  - dylan604 7mo ago
    That's got to be one of the most comically bad compositing I've seen in a while. I can't believe someone said, looks good, ship it.
- huflungdung 7mo ago
  [dead]
porphyra 7mo ago
Cool, I guess this should be able to hover in much more "austere" environments than the F-35B STOVL and the Harrier Jet. Tiltrotor with folding rotor blades sounds very mechanically complex and challenging though.
idontwantthis 7mo ago
Isn't this need already met by the Bell V280 that the army already selected for it's Blackhawk replacement? What is the big innovation they are going for here?
- Tuna-Fish 7mo ago
  +50% top speed over the V280. Bell offered it as an alternative to the V280 in the early stage of the contract, but it was judged too experimental (and probably too expensive). Apparently DARPA is funding further development of the concept.
mrDmrTmrJ 7mo ago
To be clear, this is not a power-point program but a continuation of a long-standing design work with Bell. Two articles that cover this in depth are: 1. Revised Fold-Away Rotor Aircraft Concepts Emerge From Special Operations X-Plane Program. December 2024: https://www.twz.com/air/revised-fold-away-rotor-aircraft-concepts-emerge-from-special-operations-x-plane-program https://www.twz.com/air/revised-fold-away-rotor-aircraft-con... 2. Bell’s Plan To Finally Realize A Rotorcraft That Flies Like A Jet But Hovers Like A Helicopter. September 2021: https://www.twz.com/41997/bells-plan-to-finally-realize-a-rotorcraft-that-flies-like-a-jet-but-hovers-like-a-helicopter https://www.twz.com/41997/bells-plan-to-finally-realize-a-ro... The second article covers decades of prior wind tunnel testing on the folding rotor concept.
- moralestapia 7mo ago
  >decades of prior wind tunnel testing on the folding rotor concept Oof, I wish I had a job like that.
  - trhway 7mo ago
    join an enterprise software BigCo.
  - username223 7mo ago
    > Oof, I wish I had a job like that. Focus on something and become one of the best in the world at it. Expertise pays.
- trhway 7mo ago
  > continuation of a long-standing design work with Bell. sunk investment. The success - it made into production in meaningful numbers - of V-22 means that design will be beaten to death. Even though Bell X-22 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFdV5CVXGGw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFdV5CVXGGw) was much better as prop VTOL than V-22, and for jet VTOL Ryan XV-5 Vertifan (look how great it is flying https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwvkjFIYWR8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwvkjFIYWR8 ) was much better than F-35 has been and X-76 will be. And giving pilotless future of combat air, a tail sitter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tail-sitter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tail-sitter will work great in pilotless version not needing all that folding/tilting hardware. A pilotless would also not have to have at least double engines/etc for reliability (and the monstrosity of interconnect between those 2 engines like V-22 has and X-76 is bound to have).
phplovesong 7mo ago
The swedish gripen can do mach2 (2300km/h) and does not need a traditional runway (500 meters of something "flat enough" will do). I assume its way cheaper than something like this.
- RandallBrown 7mo ago
  Can it hover?
  - phplovesong 7mo ago
    Why do you need hover? Its a pretty useless thing that requires shitloads of engineering (for a plane, not a heli). It sounds like a hollywood movie like requirement that is built for the purpose of burning tax payer dollars.
- Zigurd 7mo ago
  I suppose the argument is that X-76 could work in environments without roads. But that also implies without fuel or any other support on the ground.
  - phplovesong 7mo ago
    What usecase is this? Where is a place "without roads", and that can be important enough for something like this?
- gorgoiler 7mo ago
  That doctrine works great for defending your homeland, when you are taking off from your roadside base and coming back home to a road-based airfield already on the map. My understanding of these VTOL aircraft is they need to travel a long way, quickly, and set down in far less predictable conditions.
  - phplovesong 7mo ago
    Are you saying these are for human transport? Sounds like real niche in modern warfare.
bilsbie 7mo ago
I’d go for simplicity and do a tail lander.
- usrusr 7mo ago
  These days my vote would go to a quad. Impeller fore, impeller aft and one in each wing. Behind doors, obviously, like the bays for retractable landing gear - this is a solved problem. They don't have to be efficient, because how much hovering time would you really need? Battery could even exist only in mission specific pods (internal perhaps, when it's a cargo carrier), trade-off as needed.
  - bilsbie 7mo ago
    Electric motors are very light too.
  - KaiserPro 7mo ago
    > They don't have to be efficient Thats the point, the more efficient the less supply line you need, which means more autonomy. I cant find the source but in Afghanistan a large proportion of the Allied casualties were from protecting supply lines. The thing about quad copters is that they work at small scale because the rotor have almost no inertia. When you scale that up to 2m, then inertia is a bitch. That means you need tilting blades to make up for that lack of control. BUT You also need something to be powerful enough to alter the speed of the rotors to get yaw. Plus you then also need to get them all to rotate so that you can get the efficiency of normal flight. The reason why the osprey exists is because it has longer range than a helicopter (~1200 miles vs 400) its also faster.
    - usrusr 7mo ago
      > Plus you then also need to get them all to rotate so that you can get the efficiency of normal flight. Not when you simply don't use them for horizontal flight. You just shut the VTOL hatches and forget that you aren't a conventional airplane until you want to land but there isn't an airstrip. Winged operation has to be efficient, no doubt about that. But hovering does not need much endurance when it's only for getting away from the ground and setting down. Electric has the power density, even more so when you don't need the power for a long time (heat buildup, no need for an equilibrium). Electric suffers from energy density, but that's where the winged mode comes in (old fashioned jet turbine, with the generator slightly larger than usual so that you'll have full batteries for the short landing hover)
bilsbie 7mo ago
So it has jet engines that blades unfold and attach to during takeoff and landing? Why not always use the blades?
- rluna828 7mo ago
  stealth
- KaiserPro 7mo ago
  Speed and efficiency I suspect Targeting a propeller for both raw lifting capacity as well as speed is quite difficult. I suspect they have different geometry as well. If you spin a propeller fast enough the tips break the speed of sound, from what I recall that knackers the efficency. To generate lots of lift a bigger rotor is more efficient (hence why helicopters have long rotoblades that don't spin at high RPM) The longer the blades the faster the tips, which means there is a tradeoff between thrust and speed of the air being yeeted out the back
- numpad0 7mo ago
  My armchair general understanding: airspeed at blade tip can't be supersonic all the time, and that caps the max forward speed for prop driven aircraft. Same don't apply to jet engines with air intakes that can restrict and slow air flow
greatgib 7mo ago
I can't access darpa.mil. Was it slashdotted because of the article being posted here, or now it is unavailable outside of US?
- logotype 7mo ago
  I can access it from the UK
- newer_vienna 7mo ago
  Still up here in the US
- dang 7mo ago
  https://web.archive.org/web/20260309171633/https://www.darpa.mil/news/2026/darpa-new-x-76-speed-of-jet-freedom-of-helicopter https://web.archive.org/web/20260309171633/https://www.darpa... might work
- rcMgD2BwE72F 7mo ago
  Inaccessible from France. With family.dns.mullvad.net private DNS.
HumblyTossed 7mo ago
Hmmm... that just looks like problems. It's a lot of mechanical parts that always have to work correctly.
- 01100011 7mo ago
  The Osprey killed a lot of Marines over the past decades. It took a while to work out the issues. Hopefully we will remember what the Osprey taught us.
- dang 7mo ago
  "Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - HumblyTossed 7mo ago
    I respect what you're saying, but I disagree. It really is a valid opinion to have. I don't believe I was being overly dismissive here.
    - dang 7mo ago
      The difference may be that you, who know more about these things, have in your head the state needed to appreciate the statement. The comment may be brief, but that's because it's compressed, not because (for you) it's shallow. It's like the old joke where the prisoners know all the jokes so well they just call them out by number. But those of us who know less don't have that information, and since the comment didn't explicitly deliver it, there's no way to learn from it. What to you is a compressed valid opinion ends up landing like a shallow dismissal. What works better on HN is for the commenter to share some of what they know, so the rest of us can learn, and so the comment itself becomes substantive with supporting information, details, etc. Then we won't just know that you disapprove of, e.g., a particular aircraft design, but will also have some idea of why. It can be hard to remember to do this, because most of us take the extra state in our heads for granted.
crimsoneer 7mo ago
Someone has played the new Deus Ex games
rluna828 7mo ago
I wonder is Iran would have gone different if we had captured the Ayatollah instead of killing him. A stealth drop ship like this would have allowed that to happen. The reason why regimes are more likely to negotiate when you capture their leaders is because you might release them. (not a good day for the usurper.)
- ivell 7mo ago
  I don't think whatever is negotiated with Iran's current regime would actually be honored by them. They may commit something to get their leader back, but won't be keeping the promises. Their self stated goal is destruction of Israel and US. They could have chosen peace and not have funded proxies across the middle east. Their choice of aggression by whatever means they have at their disposal just shows what their long term strategy would be. They have shown the intend. They just didn't have the capacity to follow through. Once they gain the capacity, they could go extreme lengths. Just see how they attacked their neighbors who were not party to the war.
  - jrapdx3 7mo ago
    A very good response to the parent comment and summary of the current situation. AIUI the Iranian attack on Arab countries is strategic, increasing energy costs pressures the US to stop military action. However the US and allies were prepared with set aside oil reserves, increasing supplies from other sources, and reducing Iran's ability to interfere with shipping. Major warfare always has tragic effects, but against regimes actively pursuing destruction of other nations, return of fire is a rational response.
- otabdeveloper4 7mo ago
  > A stealth drop ship like this would have allowed that to happen. Yeah, I saw that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode too. Sadly, we might need some more intensive vibranium research before it becomes reality.
trelliumD 7mo ago
that already exists in the form of Saab Gripen :)
- FrankBooth 7mo ago
  Where do the 14 soldiers sit in the Gripen?
  - rkomorn 7mo ago
    On the wings, obviously, for quick deployment. Maybe I mean early deployment.
    - adolph 7mo ago
      Shades of: Being strapped to the sponsons of an AH-64 is one wild, but potentially life-saving ride. https://www.twz.com/38435/this-is-all-the-survival-gear-that-apache-attack-helicopter-crews-fly-into-combat-with https://www.twz.com/38435/this-is-all-the-survival-gear-that...
      - throwaway2037 7mo ago
        Totally off-topic, but that photo is wild. How do you not go deaf riding so close to jet turbine!? Can earplugs really reduce noise that much?
      - rkomorn 7mo ago
        The straps just need to be a little stronger!
radicalethics 7mo ago
I wonder what the motivation behind this is. Tactically, why ever show your latest weapon? What is the strategic purpose of this? It's like if I message my opponent in SC2 and tell them exactly what I'm going to tech to. That's ... insane right? Why would anyone do that?
- benjcpalm 7mo ago
  It's not a tactical choice- it's strategic deterrence, and it's not insane at all! The US has always had a policy of messaging programs, with a lean toward classifying some percentage of the specific capabilities. There's a reason that F-35 program was publicized by the US government as the program was under development. It makes the US air force even scarier, which discourages adversaries from thinking about conventional warfare with America. That said- you won't see any detailed pics of the inside of an F35 cockpit, or a detailed look at the heads up display in the fancy helmet. That's top secret, because those making those details public don't offer enough additional deterrence to justify the risk to the program.
  - deleted 7mo ago
    [deleted]
  - bityard 7mo ago
    Yes, but even if the US didn't release the specifications of the F35, other countries around the world would rapidly figure out most of the capabilities anyway from photos, videos, and casual observation. (In other words, they'd know soon enough WHAT it can do but not necessarily HOW it does it.)
- bityard 7mo ago
  This isn't a new weapon, this is a test platform for various ideas, none of which are new or secret. Also, there are not many groundbreaking advancements left in military aviation. Most are just fairly incremental engineering or manufacturing improvements. (Military space technology might be a different story, though.) The only other nation with the potential to develop a high-tech military plane that could rival US technology would be China. But if we ever got into a war with China, they wouldn't need superior technology to win. They could win via superior manufacturing capacity and the sheer number of people they can draft into service at a moment's notice.
kuprel 7mo ago
From the image it doesn't look balanced for VTOL when the propellors are vertical. Also are the jets enabled during VTOL?
- gorkish 7mo ago
  I'm betting the person who created the "artist rendering" isnt an aeronautical engineer.
  - doublerabbit 7mo ago
    Wager $10 it's a LLM prompt.
dmbche 7mo ago
Design remings me of something... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_V-22_Osprey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidents_and_incidents_involv...
- deleted 7mo ago
  [deleted]
- yabones 7mo ago
  The next generations of accidents are going to be even more looney-tunes in nature.
- deleted 7mo ago
  [deleted]
- conorbergin 7mo ago
  The Osprey's accident rate is not that bad, and the US Army have ordered a new smaller tiltrotor, the v280.
  - owlninja 7mo ago
    They officially named it recently to the 'MV-75'.
    - remarkEon 7mo ago
      The Wikipedia page says this will replace UH-60s, but I just do not see how that airframe is a direct comparable to what’s been a workhorse for decades. Maybe it means only in a long range reconnaissance role? But even then, that mission is primarily owned by UAS platforms now. Confusing.
      - joha4270 7mo ago
        What is so unbelievable about that? Sure, its going to take decades to actually make the transition and the UH-60 will remain in service for decades more after that in less demanding roles. I expect by the time this finishes, the MV-75 will be considered another workhorse, if maybe slightly fuzzier and the UH will be an antiquated platform. But ultimately they both solve the same problem, moving stuff from A to B in rough terrain fast. But with the ever increasing amount of reconnaissance assets, A needs to be further behind the frontline and so range and speed needs to increase beyond what you can manage with a pure helicopter.
sandworm101 7mo ago
Different engines for different phases of flight? It has been tried many times and never really works. Such craft can be made to fly, but never well. The answer has to come from using one set to power all phases. Id be interested in seeing a turboprop that can transition to a turbofan/jet once the prop is folded away. The f-35 was a step in this direction.
ocdtrekkie 7mo ago
I'm confident with the stellar service and safety record of the V-22 that an even more complex tiltrotor will be a standout success for the military.
- wartywhoa23 7mo ago
  16 hull losses per ~400 units built is not exactly a stellar safety record. Or I guess you mean /stellar?
  - jdkee 7mo ago
    He is being sarcastic.
- cpgxiii 7mo ago
  If you look at the V-22 safety record in the context of the level of technical development, it is pretty good (e.g. compare to helicopters and aircraft from the 60s). The first production generation of a brand new type of vehicle is always going to be complicated, and virtually all of the V-22 mishaps come from the "new" components and procedures. The fundamental tradeoff with tiltrotor platforms is that you trade significantly increased speed for significantly increased complexity. What that means is your battlefield survivability goes up when dealing with any opponent with meaningful air defenses, but at the cost of increasing your "resting" accident rate when most peacetime accidents are consequences of maintenance and/or procedural issues.
- greedo 7mo ago
  Flying military aircraft is inherently dangerous. The US Army had 15 Class A mishaps in 2025, the USN 12, the USAF 14, and 6 for the USMC. The Apache (AH-64) led the Army, and this is a mature airframe, but shit happens.
- laughing_man 7mo ago
  The V-22's safety record is somewhere between a fixed wing aircraft and a helicopter. About what you'd expect.
mikkupikku 7mo ago
Why won't they adopt one of Sikorsky's compound helicopters already? They're beautiful and elegant solutions to this problem.
- cpgxiii 7mo ago
  Because Sikorski can't make them work. Sure, they can take off and fly fast in a straight line, but they haven't been able to demonstrate sufficient maneuverability due to vibration problems in the rotor head. They are also very tall, prohibitively so for existing shipboard hangar, which would otherwise seem to be their advantage over tiltrotor platforms.
brk 7mo ago
I don't understand the purpose of the Xenon taillight.
- deleted 7mo ago
  [deleted]
tamimio 7mo ago
I think the blades are added there for deception, most likely it won’t have blades.
- EA 7mo ago
  It will need blades to VTOL.
  - tamimio 7mo ago
    They do exist, WIP, a bladless VTOL https://newatlas.com/aircraft/jetoptera-bladeless-hsvtol/ https://newatlas.com/aircraft/jetoptera-bladeless-hsvtol/ > Jetoptera is developing VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft that use a "Fluidic Propulsion System" (FPS) instead of traditional rotors or propellers, acting like "bladeless fans on steroids". These systems use compressed air and the Coanda effect to generate high-speed thrust, promising quieter, more efficient, and faster flight (up to Mach 0.8) for aerial mobility.
- bigyabai 7mo ago
  Running exclusively off jet power would require an extremely (impossibly?) strong compressor stage coupled a powerful APU to generate lift. It's definitely not light enough to take off without tiltrotors.
  - tamimio 7mo ago
    The concept is the compressed air sent through slits in a thruster, creating negative pressure that draws in surrounding air, resulting in increased thrust, there’s a concept already of this, check the above reply.
    - bigyabai 7mo ago
      From that link, "the system delivers 10% more thrust [...] than a small turbojet." They are still very deeply limited by compressor technology, regardless of whether they use combustion or electric propulsion.
0xWTF 7mo ago
So ... we're going to try even harder to put humans in harm's way?
rozab 7mo ago
It's cool they actually still commission concept paintings like this
- smlacy 7mo ago
  That background looks like AI for sure though?
reactordev 7mo ago
“Where we’re going, we don’t need roads”. The Osprey is amazing, can’t wait to see what the X-76 can do.
sega_sai 7mo ago
[flagged]
- DonHopkins 7mo ago
  [flagged]
  - theultdev 7mo ago
    [flagged]
    - vanderZwan 7mo ago
      There's something hilariously telling about calling yourself the "ultimate" dev while being completely oblivious about who Don Hopkins is, or what his views on this type of subject would be.
      - theultdev 7mo ago
        I'm aware. Doesn't really change anything does it? I respect people's opinion in their domain. His take was pretty much just hearsay. Very poor taste, doesn't belong here. btw: ult is a project, I'm the dev of it. but yes I am that too (jk?).
        vanderZwan 7mo ago
        The quote is from a slide of an FBI presentation of unclassified information regarding the Epstein files that is hosted on justice.gov itself. What about this is hearsay exactly? https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01660622.pdf https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01660...
        theultdev 7mo ago
        Okay I'll bite. Where is the part I'm supposed to be looking at? Where does it "all connect for you" in that document I guess is what I'm saying. Really trying to understand the theory here.
aussieguy1234 7mo ago
What's the difference between this and standard VTOL?
deleted 7mo ago
[deleted]
meroes 7mo ago
Why? We just kill everything nowadays with missiles, bombs, and rockets-- heads of government, terrorist leaders, schools... so why are we investing in anything like this? Seems like some kind of GI Joe fantasy that's gone on for too long.
- gorgoiler 7mo ago
  From recent events, operations like the Maduro extraction could always benefit from technology in the category “helicopter, but faster”.
lazzurs 7mo ago
All these comments and not one single reference to Airwolf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airwolf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airwolf
- throwaway2037 7mo ago
  Under "Plot", I see: > The fictional Airwolf is an advanced prototype supersonic helicopter with stealth capabilities and a formidable arsenal. I watched that show for years as a kid. I never knew it was both supersonic and stealth. Damn, DARPA must be jealous.
lproven 7mo ago
I read this last night. AFAICS it's a turbojet tilt-rotor with folding rotors? Is that a fair summary? Sounds fun but also somewhat terrifying. The more complexity, the lower the MTBF.
elif 7mo ago
Not a substantial enough speed increase to powerfully deter air defenses. I guess the idea is that you ground transport it past air defenses and accomplish objectives?
- throwaway2037 7mo ago
  The linked page from DARPA says: > Achieve cruise at speeds exceeding 400 knots Google tells me that a Boeing 737 flies (cruises) at 430–470 knots. Also, the A-10 Warthog only cruises at 300 knows. You wrote: > Not a substantial enough speed increase to powerfully deter air defenses. For modern air defenses like the Russian S-400 Triumf, pretty much all of their missiles can easily outrun (or catch!) any modern fighter jet. In your view, what speed would be "substantial enough"?
  - elif 7mo ago
    For 1000lb of payload https://www.twz.com/air/new-hypersonic-strike-recon-aircraft-effort-eyeing-prototype-development-by-2030 https://www.twz.com/air/new-hypersonic-strike-recon-aircraft...
- jrjeksjd8d 7mo ago
  The role of the Osprey has, as I understand, been to transport troops into an area after it has been bombed to shit. In such a situation you've already destroyed the air defenses (or you're fighting guerillas who are relying on portable anti-air weapons)
  - elif 7mo ago
    1000 lbs is not a lot of troops
    - jrjeksjd8d 7mo ago
      I can't imagine what other role a VTOL would eventually play. It's too fragile for CAS, too slow for air supremacy, not enough payload for bombing, and recon is better served by drones or satellites. The only reason to have an expensive, heavy plane take off and land in a warzone would seem to be moving people in and out.
sylware 7mo ago
Is this a drone or a transport for delta force hit and run?
qwerty_clicks 7mo ago
Can we please just spend some money on social welfare and our people?
- giraffe_lady 7mo ago
  Can't even talk it about it, it's against the guidelines for being political. Asking what we will use this for is similarly political. The only nonpolitical act is admiring the war machine, apparently.
  - dang 7mo ago
    HN hosts plenty of political comments and threads. We just ask that it (a) not be the primary thing people use the site for, and (b) that discussion stay respectful and within the site guidelines. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=political%20overlap%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so... https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=false&page=0&query=primarily%20test%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme... https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - giraffe_lady 7mo ago
      I know dan, thanks. I'm pointing out the bloodthirsty cowardice of the site and its culture. The capriciousness of moderation is a topic for another day.
      - dang 7mo ago
        I don't quite understand that, but I suppose mutual understanding might be too much to hope for. I'm still glad you're here!
        giraffe_lady 7mo ago
        In that case maybe you should stop rate limiting me.

DARPA’s new X-76

229 points by newer_vienna 7mo ago

einpoklum 7mo ago

And the US will use it to invade your country and kidnap your president if s/he doesn't do what Uncle Sam tells him to.

thatmf 7mo ago

[flagged]

bak3y 7mo ago
hopefully we never will - the last thing I want the government MORE involved in is healthcare
- vicnov 7mo ago
  It is a fascinating take. I am curious to understand what model you think would work. The U.S. effectively has a dysfunctional system with wild mix of "no regulation" and heavy state participation. I am not sure there is any country with a deregulated system where people can enjoy good healthcare. You could theoretically say that Switzerland does this, but the government there requires everyone to have insurance, even though hospitals are 100% private.
  - bak3y 7mo ago
    There's no magic wand fix to healthcare, it and the related insurance industry are incredibly busted. What I am dead certain of though is that involving the government in it will be worse, not better.

dash2 7mo ago

“ With SPRINT, we're not just building an X-plane; we're building options”. Found the guy who couldn’t be bothered to write his own press release…

notahacker 7mo ago
Good to hear that the DoD's new contract with OpenAI is solving all the most important problems...
O5vYtytb 7mo ago
It's a quote from someone...?
- jdiez17 7mo ago
  ... who probably wrote their prepared PR statement with an LLM.
  - esseph 7mo ago
    I have always talked/written like this. now that LLMs do it in a similar enough way, my own writing gets called AI slop. I just wish my rotator cuffs knew I was a robot.
    - jacquesm 7mo ago
      Skimping on the service again, are we?
      - deleted 7mo ago
        [deleted]
    - irl_zebra 7mo ago
      It's probably good signal at least, if not a bit of a harsh thing to say that I don't mean in a bad way, that your writing was bland or mediocre since LLMs are basically regression to the mean.
bigyabai 7mo ago
It feels like DARPA has fallen so far. In a post-Salt Typhoon era it's really hard to imagine them as dynamic, best-in-class innovators anymore.

PowerElectronix 7mo ago

It looks like a maintenance nightmare with those clutches to decouple the blades and the mechanisms to have them folded during cruising. Does it even improve substantially in anh metric over the V280 to put money into it?

cucumber3732842 7mo ago
The V280 is designed to be cheap (a very relative term here). Reading between the lines, I suspect "fast, but also expensive" was a design option that popped up and was not chosen earlier in the V280 program and now Darpa wants to pay to see where it goes.
- Zigurd 7mo ago
  Hard to be more expensive than F-35B.
  - XorNot 7mo ago
    The F-35 is cheaper then some new production 4th generation fighters at this point.
    - Zigurd 7mo ago
      The sticker price is competitive but the cost per flight hour and the availability factor is pretty horrifying. Factoring in the cost of flying and the availability makes the Grippen about half the cost. I wonder if the flight hour cost of F 35 includes the maintenance it's undergoing when it's not available.
      - bigyabai 7mo ago
        The Gripen is a fantastic jet, but you're basically describing the difference between a fourth and fifth generation platform. When Saab and Embraer roll out their own fifth-generation jets, they will also have to contend with expensive RAM coating and complex internal hardpoints. Putting aside the export market, it's a small miracle that the F-35 turned out as well as it did. Having a mostly-common fighter airframe shared between the Navy, Marines and Air Force was a pipe dream in the 90s. America is lucky the program didn't collapse entirely.

ceejayoz 7mo ago

So it's an Osprey with a jet in the back?

torginus 7mo ago
Usually with these programs, they just commission an artist with some vague description, like they tell him to draw a futuristic VTOL aircraft, these pics have zero bearing on what gets delivered. Sometimes they even take the piss with this, like in this video for a next-gen engine, where you can see their engine doesn't even fit in their fantasy aircraft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCHun6rxQm0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCHun6rxQm0
- dylan604 7mo ago
  That's got to be one of the most comically bad compositing I've seen in a while. I can't believe someone said, looks good, ship it.
huflungdung 7mo ago
[dead]

porphyra 7mo ago

Cool, I guess this should be able to hover in much more "austere" environments than the F-35B STOVL and the Harrier Jet. Tiltrotor with folding rotor blades sounds very mechanically complex and challenging though.

idontwantthis 7mo ago

Isn't this need already met by the Bell V280 that the army already selected for it's Blackhawk replacement? What is the big innovation they are going for here?

Tuna-Fish 7mo ago
+50% top speed over the V280. Bell offered it as an alternative to the V280 in the early stage of the contract, but it was judged too experimental (and probably too expensive). Apparently DARPA is funding further development of the concept.

mrDmrTmrJ 7mo ago

To be clear, this is not a power-point program but a continuation of a long-standing design work with Bell. Two articles that cover this in depth are: 1. Revised Fold-Away Rotor Aircraft Concepts Emerge From Special Operations X-Plane Program. December 2024: https://www.twz.com/air/revised-fold-away-rotor-aircraft-concepts-emerge-from-special-operations-x-plane-program https://www.twz.com/air/revised-fold-away-rotor-aircraft-con... 2. Bell’s Plan To Finally Realize A Rotorcraft That Flies Like A Jet But Hovers Like A Helicopter. September 2021: https://www.twz.com/41997/bells-plan-to-finally-realize-a-rotorcraft-that-flies-like-a-jet-but-hovers-like-a-helicopter https://www.twz.com/41997/bells-plan-to-finally-realize-a-ro... The second article covers decades of prior wind tunnel testing on the folding rotor concept.

moralestapia 7mo ago
>decades of prior wind tunnel testing on the folding rotor concept Oof, I wish I had a job like that.
- trhway 7mo ago
  join an enterprise software BigCo.
- username223 7mo ago
  > Oof, I wish I had a job like that. Focus on something and become one of the best in the world at it. Expertise pays.
trhway 7mo ago
> continuation of a long-standing design work with Bell. sunk investment. The success - it made into production in meaningful numbers - of V-22 means that design will be beaten to death. Even though Bell X-22 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFdV5CVXGGw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFdV5CVXGGw) was much better as prop VTOL than V-22, and for jet VTOL Ryan XV-5 Vertifan (look how great it is flying https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwvkjFIYWR8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwvkjFIYWR8 ) was much better than F-35 has been and X-76 will be. And giving pilotless future of combat air, a tail sitter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tail-sitter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tail-sitter will work great in pilotless version not needing all that folding/tilting hardware. A pilotless would also not have to have at least double engines/etc for reliability (and the monstrosity of interconnect between those 2 engines like V-22 has and X-76 is bound to have).

phplovesong 7mo ago

The swedish gripen can do mach2 (2300km/h) and does not need a traditional runway (500 meters of something "flat enough" will do). I assume its way cheaper than something like this.

RandallBrown 7mo ago
Can it hover?
- phplovesong 7mo ago
  Why do you need hover? Its a pretty useless thing that requires shitloads of engineering (for a plane, not a heli). It sounds like a hollywood movie like requirement that is built for the purpose of burning tax payer dollars.
Zigurd 7mo ago
I suppose the argument is that X-76 could work in environments without roads. But that also implies without fuel or any other support on the ground.
- phplovesong 7mo ago
  What usecase is this? Where is a place "without roads", and that can be important enough for something like this?
gorgoiler 7mo ago
That doctrine works great for defending your homeland, when you are taking off from your roadside base and coming back home to a road-based airfield already on the map. My understanding of these VTOL aircraft is they need to travel a long way, quickly, and set down in far less predictable conditions.
- phplovesong 7mo ago
  Are you saying these are for human transport? Sounds like real niche in modern warfare.

bilsbie 7mo ago

I’d go for simplicity and do a tail lander.

usrusr 7mo ago
These days my vote would go to a quad. Impeller fore, impeller aft and one in each wing. Behind doors, obviously, like the bays for retractable landing gear - this is a solved problem. They don't have to be efficient, because how much hovering time would you really need? Battery could even exist only in mission specific pods (internal perhaps, when it's a cargo carrier), trade-off as needed.
- bilsbie 7mo ago
  Electric motors are very light too.
- KaiserPro 7mo ago
  > They don't have to be efficient Thats the point, the more efficient the less supply line you need, which means more autonomy. I cant find the source but in Afghanistan a large proportion of the Allied casualties were from protecting supply lines. The thing about quad copters is that they work at small scale because the rotor have almost no inertia. When you scale that up to 2m, then inertia is a bitch. That means you need tilting blades to make up for that lack of control. BUT You also need something to be powerful enough to alter the speed of the rotors to get yaw. Plus you then also need to get them all to rotate so that you can get the efficiency of normal flight. The reason why the osprey exists is because it has longer range than a helicopter (~1200 miles vs 400) its also faster.
  - usrusr 7mo ago
    > Plus you then also need to get them all to rotate so that you can get the efficiency of normal flight. Not when you simply don't use them for horizontal flight. You just shut the VTOL hatches and forget that you aren't a conventional airplane until you want to land but there isn't an airstrip. Winged operation has to be efficient, no doubt about that. But hovering does not need much endurance when it's only for getting away from the ground and setting down. Electric has the power density, even more so when you don't need the power for a long time (heat buildup, no need for an equilibrium). Electric suffers from energy density, but that's where the winged mode comes in (old fashioned jet turbine, with the generator slightly larger than usual so that you'll have full batteries for the short landing hover)

bilsbie 7mo ago

So it has jet engines that blades unfold and attach to during takeoff and landing? Why not always use the blades?

rluna828 7mo ago
stealth
KaiserPro 7mo ago
Speed and efficiency I suspect Targeting a propeller for both raw lifting capacity as well as speed is quite difficult. I suspect they have different geometry as well. If you spin a propeller fast enough the tips break the speed of sound, from what I recall that knackers the efficency. To generate lots of lift a bigger rotor is more efficient (hence why helicopters have long rotoblades that don't spin at high RPM) The longer the blades the faster the tips, which means there is a tradeoff between thrust and speed of the air being yeeted out the back
numpad0 7mo ago
My armchair general understanding: airspeed at blade tip can't be supersonic all the time, and that caps the max forward speed for prop driven aircraft. Same don't apply to jet engines with air intakes that can restrict and slow air flow

greatgib 7mo ago

I can't access darpa.mil. Was it slashdotted because of the article being posted here, or now it is unavailable outside of US?

logotype 7mo ago
I can access it from the UK
newer_vienna 7mo ago
Still up here in the US
dang 7mo ago
https://web.archive.org/web/20260309171633/https://www.darpa.mil/news/2026/darpa-new-x-76-speed-of-jet-freedom-of-helicopter https://web.archive.org/web/20260309171633/https://www.darpa... might work
rcMgD2BwE72F 7mo ago
Inaccessible from France. With family.dns.mullvad.net private DNS.

HumblyTossed 7mo ago

Hmmm... that just looks like problems. It's a lot of mechanical parts that always have to work correctly.

01100011 7mo ago
The Osprey killed a lot of Marines over the past decades. It took a while to work out the issues. Hopefully we will remember what the Osprey taught us.
dang 7mo ago
"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- HumblyTossed 7mo ago
  I respect what you're saying, but I disagree. It really is a valid opinion to have. I don't believe I was being overly dismissive here.
  - dang 7mo ago
    The difference may be that you, who know more about these things, have in your head the state needed to appreciate the statement. The comment may be brief, but that's because it's compressed, not because (for you) it's shallow. It's like the old joke where the prisoners know all the jokes so well they just call them out by number. But those of us who know less don't have that information, and since the comment didn't explicitly deliver it, there's no way to learn from it. What to you is a compressed valid opinion ends up landing like a shallow dismissal. What works better on HN is for the commenter to share some of what they know, so the rest of us can learn, and so the comment itself becomes substantive with supporting information, details, etc. Then we won't just know that you disapprove of, e.g., a particular aircraft design, but will also have some idea of why. It can be hard to remember to do this, because most of us take the extra state in our heads for granted.

crimsoneer 7mo ago

Someone has played the new Deus Ex games

rluna828 7mo ago

I wonder is Iran would have gone different if we had captured the Ayatollah instead of killing him. A stealth drop ship like this would have allowed that to happen. The reason why regimes are more likely to negotiate when you capture their leaders is because you might release them. (not a good day for the usurper.)

ivell 7mo ago
I don't think whatever is negotiated with Iran's current regime would actually be honored by them. They may commit something to get their leader back, but won't be keeping the promises. Their self stated goal is destruction of Israel and US. They could have chosen peace and not have funded proxies across the middle east. Their choice of aggression by whatever means they have at their disposal just shows what their long term strategy would be. They have shown the intend. They just didn't have the capacity to follow through. Once they gain the capacity, they could go extreme lengths. Just see how they attacked their neighbors who were not party to the war.
- jrapdx3 7mo ago
  A very good response to the parent comment and summary of the current situation. AIUI the Iranian attack on Arab countries is strategic, increasing energy costs pressures the US to stop military action. However the US and allies were prepared with set aside oil reserves, increasing supplies from other sources, and reducing Iran's ability to interfere with shipping. Major warfare always has tragic effects, but against regimes actively pursuing destruction of other nations, return of fire is a rational response.
otabdeveloper4 7mo ago
> A stealth drop ship like this would have allowed that to happen. Yeah, I saw that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode too. Sadly, we might need some more intensive vibranium research before it becomes reality.

trelliumD 7mo ago

that already exists in the form of Saab Gripen :)

FrankBooth 7mo ago
Where do the 14 soldiers sit in the Gripen?
- rkomorn 7mo ago
  On the wings, obviously, for quick deployment. Maybe I mean early deployment.
  - adolph 7mo ago
    Shades of: Being strapped to the sponsons of an AH-64 is one wild, but potentially life-saving ride. https://www.twz.com/38435/this-is-all-the-survival-gear-that-apache-attack-helicopter-crews-fly-into-combat-with https://www.twz.com/38435/this-is-all-the-survival-gear-that...
    - throwaway2037 7mo ago
      Totally off-topic, but that photo is wild. How do you not go deaf riding so close to jet turbine!? Can earplugs really reduce noise that much?
    - rkomorn 7mo ago
      The straps just need to be a little stronger!

radicalethics 7mo ago

I wonder what the motivation behind this is. Tactically, why ever show your latest weapon? What is the strategic purpose of this? It's like if I message my opponent in SC2 and tell them exactly what I'm going to tech to. That's ... insane right? Why would anyone do that?

benjcpalm 7mo ago
It's not a tactical choice- it's strategic deterrence, and it's not insane at all! The US has always had a policy of messaging programs, with a lean toward classifying some percentage of the specific capabilities. There's a reason that F-35 program was publicized by the US government as the program was under development. It makes the US air force even scarier, which discourages adversaries from thinking about conventional warfare with America. That said- you won't see any detailed pics of the inside of an F35 cockpit, or a detailed look at the heads up display in the fancy helmet. That's top secret, because those making those details public don't offer enough additional deterrence to justify the risk to the program.
- deleted 7mo ago
  [deleted]
- bityard 7mo ago
  Yes, but even if the US didn't release the specifications of the F35, other countries around the world would rapidly figure out most of the capabilities anyway from photos, videos, and casual observation. (In other words, they'd know soon enough WHAT it can do but not necessarily HOW it does it.)
bityard 7mo ago
This isn't a new weapon, this is a test platform for various ideas, none of which are new or secret. Also, there are not many groundbreaking advancements left in military aviation. Most are just fairly incremental engineering or manufacturing improvements. (Military space technology might be a different story, though.) The only other nation with the potential to develop a high-tech military plane that could rival US technology would be China. But if we ever got into a war with China, they wouldn't need superior technology to win. They could win via superior manufacturing capacity and the sheer number of people they can draft into service at a moment's notice.

kuprel 7mo ago

From the image it doesn't look balanced for VTOL when the propellors are vertical. Also are the jets enabled during VTOL?

gorkish 7mo ago
I'm betting the person who created the "artist rendering" isnt an aeronautical engineer.
- doublerabbit 7mo ago
  Wager $10 it's a LLM prompt.

dmbche 7mo ago

Design remings me of something... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_V-22_Osprey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidents_and_incidents_involv...

deleted 7mo ago
[deleted]
yabones 7mo ago
The next generations of accidents are going to be even more looney-tunes in nature.
deleted 7mo ago
[deleted]
conorbergin 7mo ago
The Osprey's accident rate is not that bad, and the US Army have ordered a new smaller tiltrotor, the v280.
- owlninja 7mo ago
  They officially named it recently to the 'MV-75'.
  - remarkEon 7mo ago
    The Wikipedia page says this will replace UH-60s, but I just do not see how that airframe is a direct comparable to what’s been a workhorse for decades. Maybe it means only in a long range reconnaissance role? But even then, that mission is primarily owned by UAS platforms now. Confusing.
    - joha4270 7mo ago
      What is so unbelievable about that? Sure, its going to take decades to actually make the transition and the UH-60 will remain in service for decades more after that in less demanding roles. I expect by the time this finishes, the MV-75 will be considered another workhorse, if maybe slightly fuzzier and the UH will be an antiquated platform. But ultimately they both solve the same problem, moving stuff from A to B in rough terrain fast. But with the ever increasing amount of reconnaissance assets, A needs to be further behind the frontline and so range and speed needs to increase beyond what you can manage with a pure helicopter.

sandworm101 7mo ago

Different engines for different phases of flight? It has been tried many times and never really works. Such craft can be made to fly, but never well. The answer has to come from using one set to power all phases. Id be interested in seeing a turboprop that can transition to a turbofan/jet once the prop is folded away. The f-35 was a step in this direction.

ocdtrekkie 7mo ago

I'm confident with the stellar service and safety record of the V-22 that an even more complex tiltrotor will be a standout success for the military.

wartywhoa23 7mo ago
16 hull losses per ~400 units built is not exactly a stellar safety record. Or I guess you mean /stellar?
- jdkee 7mo ago
  He is being sarcastic.
cpgxiii 7mo ago
If you look at the V-22 safety record in the context of the level of technical development, it is pretty good (e.g. compare to helicopters and aircraft from the 60s). The first production generation of a brand new type of vehicle is always going to be complicated, and virtually all of the V-22 mishaps come from the "new" components and procedures. The fundamental tradeoff with tiltrotor platforms is that you trade significantly increased speed for significantly increased complexity. What that means is your battlefield survivability goes up when dealing with any opponent with meaningful air defenses, but at the cost of increasing your "resting" accident rate when most peacetime accidents are consequences of maintenance and/or procedural issues.
greedo 7mo ago
Flying military aircraft is inherently dangerous. The US Army had 15 Class A mishaps in 2025, the USN 12, the USAF 14, and 6 for the USMC. The Apache (AH-64) led the Army, and this is a mature airframe, but shit happens.
laughing_man 7mo ago
The V-22's safety record is somewhere between a fixed wing aircraft and a helicopter. About what you'd expect.

mikkupikku 7mo ago

Why won't they adopt one of Sikorsky's compound helicopters already? They're beautiful and elegant solutions to this problem.

cpgxiii 7mo ago
Because Sikorski can't make them work. Sure, they can take off and fly fast in a straight line, but they haven't been able to demonstrate sufficient maneuverability due to vibration problems in the rotor head. They are also very tall, prohibitively so for existing shipboard hangar, which would otherwise seem to be their advantage over tiltrotor platforms.

brk 7mo ago

I don't understand the purpose of the Xenon taillight.

deleted 7mo ago
[deleted]

tamimio 7mo ago

I think the blades are added there for deception, most likely it won’t have blades.

EA 7mo ago
It will need blades to VTOL.
- tamimio 7mo ago
  They do exist, WIP, a bladless VTOL https://newatlas.com/aircraft/jetoptera-bladeless-hsvtol/ https://newatlas.com/aircraft/jetoptera-bladeless-hsvtol/ > Jetoptera is developing VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft that use a "Fluidic Propulsion System" (FPS) instead of traditional rotors or propellers, acting like "bladeless fans on steroids". These systems use compressed air and the Coanda effect to generate high-speed thrust, promising quieter, more efficient, and faster flight (up to Mach 0.8) for aerial mobility.
bigyabai 7mo ago
Running exclusively off jet power would require an extremely (impossibly?) strong compressor stage coupled a powerful APU to generate lift. It's definitely not light enough to take off without tiltrotors.
- tamimio 7mo ago
  The concept is the compressed air sent through slits in a thruster, creating negative pressure that draws in surrounding air, resulting in increased thrust, there’s a concept already of this, check the above reply.
  - bigyabai 7mo ago
    From that link, "the system delivers 10% more thrust [...] than a small turbojet." They are still very deeply limited by compressor technology, regardless of whether they use combustion or electric propulsion.

0xWTF 7mo ago

So ... we're going to try even harder to put humans in harm's way?

rozab 7mo ago

It's cool they actually still commission concept paintings like this

smlacy 7mo ago
That background looks like AI for sure though?

reactordev 7mo ago

“Where we’re going, we don’t need roads”. The Osprey is amazing, can’t wait to see what the X-76 can do.

sega_sai 7mo ago

[flagged]

DonHopkins 7mo ago
[flagged]
- theultdev 7mo ago
  [flagged]
  - vanderZwan 7mo ago
    There's something hilariously telling about calling yourself the "ultimate" dev while being completely oblivious about who Don Hopkins is, or what his views on this type of subject would be.
    - theultdev 7mo ago
      I'm aware. Doesn't really change anything does it? I respect people's opinion in their domain. His take was pretty much just hearsay. Very poor taste, doesn't belong here. btw: ult is a project, I'm the dev of it. but yes I am that too (jk?).
      - vanderZwan 7mo ago
        The quote is from a slide of an FBI presentation of unclassified information regarding the Epstein files that is hosted on justice.gov itself. What about this is hearsay exactly? https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01660622.pdf https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01660...
        theultdev 7mo ago
        Okay I'll bite. Where is the part I'm supposed to be looking at? Where does it "all connect for you" in that document I guess is what I'm saying. Really trying to understand the theory here.

aussieguy1234 7mo ago

What's the difference between this and standard VTOL?

deleted 7mo ago

[deleted]

meroes 7mo ago

Why? We just kill everything nowadays with missiles, bombs, and rockets-- heads of government, terrorist leaders, schools... so why are we investing in anything like this? Seems like some kind of GI Joe fantasy that's gone on for too long.

gorgoiler 7mo ago
From recent events, operations like the Maduro extraction could always benefit from technology in the category “helicopter, but faster”.

lazzurs 7mo ago

All these comments and not one single reference to Airwolf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airwolf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airwolf

throwaway2037 7mo ago
Under "Plot", I see: > The fictional Airwolf is an advanced prototype supersonic helicopter with stealth capabilities and a formidable arsenal. I watched that show for years as a kid. I never knew it was both supersonic and stealth. Damn, DARPA must be jealous.

lproven 7mo ago

I read this last night. AFAICS it's a turbojet tilt-rotor with folding rotors? Is that a fair summary? Sounds fun but also somewhat terrifying. The more complexity, the lower the MTBF.

elif 7mo ago

Not a substantial enough speed increase to powerfully deter air defenses. I guess the idea is that you ground transport it past air defenses and accomplish objectives?

throwaway2037 7mo ago
The linked page from DARPA says: > Achieve cruise at speeds exceeding 400 knots Google tells me that a Boeing 737 flies (cruises) at 430–470 knots. Also, the A-10 Warthog only cruises at 300 knows. You wrote: > Not a substantial enough speed increase to powerfully deter air defenses. For modern air defenses like the Russian S-400 Triumf, pretty much all of their missiles can easily outrun (or catch!) any modern fighter jet. In your view, what speed would be "substantial enough"?
- elif 7mo ago
  For 1000lb of payload https://www.twz.com/air/new-hypersonic-strike-recon-aircraft-effort-eyeing-prototype-development-by-2030 https://www.twz.com/air/new-hypersonic-strike-recon-aircraft...
jrjeksjd8d 7mo ago
The role of the Osprey has, as I understand, been to transport troops into an area after it has been bombed to shit. In such a situation you've already destroyed the air defenses (or you're fighting guerillas who are relying on portable anti-air weapons)
- elif 7mo ago
  1000 lbs is not a lot of troops
  - jrjeksjd8d 7mo ago
    I can't imagine what other role a VTOL would eventually play. It's too fragile for CAS, too slow for air supremacy, not enough payload for bombing, and recon is better served by drones or satellites. The only reason to have an expensive, heavy plane take off and land in a warzone would seem to be moving people in and out.

sylware 7mo ago

Is this a drone or a transport for delta force hit and run?

qwerty_clicks 7mo ago

Can we please just spend some money on social welfare and our people?

giraffe_lady 7mo ago
Can't even talk it about it, it's against the guidelines for being political. Asking what we will use this for is similarly political. The only nonpolitical act is admiring the war machine, apparently.
- dang 7mo ago
  HN hosts plenty of political comments and threads. We just ask that it (a) not be the primary thing people use the site for, and (b) that discussion stay respectful and within the site guidelines. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=political%20overlap%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so... https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=false&page=0&query=primarily%20test%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme... https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - giraffe_lady 7mo ago
    I know dan, thanks. I'm pointing out the bloodthirsty cowardice of the site and its culture. The capriciousness of moderation is a topic for another day.
    - dang 7mo ago
      I don't quite understand that, but I suppose mutual understanding might be too much to hope for. I'm still glad you're here!
      - giraffe_lady 7mo ago
        In that case maybe you should stop rate limiting me.