It'll fly instead using Active Flow Control (AFC), using a series of nozzle arrays along the wings connected to a pressurized air system, capable of blowing controlled bursts of air that can directly ...

The X-65 fuselage is densely packed with air compression, cooling and plumbing for the AFC system. Credit: DARPA Since the Wright brothers warped the wings of their Flyer, most aircraft have used ...

The X-plane, designated X-65, aims to demonstrate the benefits of active flow control at tactically relevant scale and flight conditions. Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing company, has begun ...

Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences has won a US defence contract to develop an experimental aircraft that can fly without traditional control surfaces like rudders, flaps and ailerons. The US ...

Two decades after demonstrating the promise of active flow control, DARPA has returned to the topic with the goal of flying an X-plane that can finally take the technology over the transition hurdle ...

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has issued contracts to three industry teams to develop experimental aircraft (X-plane) based on active flow control, an area relatively little ...