Bell’s X-76 Fold-Away Rotor Aircraft Is DARPA’s Newest X-Plane
DARPA has designated Bell Textron's SPRINT demonstrator as the X-76, the newest addition to the X-plane family, and announced it has passed critical design review and entered production. The aircraft is planned to fly in early 2028.
The X-76 is built around Bell's Stop/Fold rotor system: wingtip proprotors provide vertical takeoff, landing, and hover capability, then fold away once airborne to reduce drag while a separate jet propulsion system pushes the aircraft to cruise speeds exceeding 400 knots. The goal is to eliminate a long-standing limitation in military aviation — the speed of a runway-dependent aircraft versus the go-anywhere flexibility of a helicopter. For comparison, the CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor tops out at 280 knots.
DARPA is running SPRINT alongside U.S. Special Operations Command, with the primary focus on a high-speed, runway-independent special operations airlifter. Bell says the technology is scalable (from 4,000 to 100,000 lbs gross weight) and has presented crewed and uncrewed concepts for combat search and rescue, ISR, strike, and cargo missions. DARPA released renderings of both the uncrewed X-76 demonstrator and an optionally crewed operational variant. Bell was selected over Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences for the demonstrator phase.
\\ TWZ
Bell Textron's X-76 \\ Source: DARPA
\\ Signal Watch
What Is Ukraine’s Spooky New “Alien Road Scanner” Weapon? \\ Forbes
Battlefield footage from a Russian fiber-optic ambush drone captured something unusual: a ball of light projecting a square beam that scanned up and down a road before the drone's feed cut out. Initial speculation pointed to a laser weapon cutting the drone's fiber cable, but Forbes defense journalist David Hambling identifies a more likely explanation. The drone wasn't destroyed by the beam — telemetry shows the Russian operator panicked and burned out the drone's electronic speed controller during a hasty takeoff. The projected light appears to be a structured light scanner, a technology that analyses distortions in a projected pattern to map objects in 3D. Mounted on a drone, it could detect the telltale shape of a parked FPV or the glint of a fiber-optic cable across a road surface. Fiber-optic ambush drones have become a major threat on Ukrainian supply routes, sitting silently for hours before striking passing vehicles at close range. Whatever this system is, the Russian operator clearly recognized it and knew what would follow — suggesting Ukrainian forces have been using it long enough to build a reputation.
A modified Shahed-101 loitering munition \\ Source: @BashaReport via X
\\ Quick Links
Iran Revamps Shahed‑101 With Quieter, Radar-Evading Design \\ NextGen Defense
Ukrainian firm develops Chipa net gun to stop FPV drones \\ Defence Blog
‘A Class of Its Own’: New British Hybrid Drone Can Haul 400-Kg in One Go \\ NextGen Defense
Thales Unleashes New Soldier-Worn Drone Defense: ‘STORM 2’ \\ NextGen Defense
Ukraine Turns To Autonomous Drone Interceptors As Shahed Attacks Surge \\ Forbes
AVATAAR Debuts as India’s First Drone Capable of Both Flying, Diving Underwater \\ NextGen Defense
US Introduces Rifle-Mounted Laser Weapon to Shut Down Drones \\ NextGen Defense
Turkey’s First Airborne Stand-Off Jammer Aircraft Breaks Cover \\ The Aviationist
ArianeGroup reveals FLP-T 150 rocket for France’s long-range strike program \\ AeroTime
Hyundai plans hypersonic missile capable of 5 times the speed of sound for South Korea \\ Interesting Engineering
B-21 Raider Photographed Aerial Refueling For The First Time \\ TWZ
Australia orders fleet of 40 Bluebottle uncrewed surface vessels \\ Naval News
Blohm+Voss Showcases Autonomous Surface Vessels as Germany Advances Hybrid Naval Concepts \\ Military Leak
Ukrainian company brings aerostats back to modern warfare \\ Defence Blog
SkyDefender: Thales unveils Europe’s answer to President Trump’s Golden Dome \\ AeroTime
New science on heat is changing the future of soldiering \\ Defense One
“As I have often said, and reiterate here, we will make the Bundeswehr the strongest conventional army in Europe as soon as possible — an army that can resist if it has to,”
\\ Beyond the Beam
Your clothes may become smarter than you \\ Tech Xplore
Hybrid 'super foam' uses 3D-printed struts to absorb up to 10 times more energy \\ Tech Xplore
Graphene-based 'artificial skin' brings human-like touch closer to robots \\ Tech Xplore
For precision tech, a hydrogen-tuned crystal could cancel thermal expansion \\ Tech Xplore
Aerosol jet printing creates durable, low-power transistors for next-generation tech \\ Tech Xplore
MIT’s nanotechnology-based material could shield astronauts from space radiation \\ Interesting Engineering
B-21 Raider Photographed Aerial Refueling For The First Time \\ Source: @minor_triad X account
\\ Opportunity Intel
FAA seeks industry proposals for Accelerated Transformation of Legacy Systems (ATLAS) \\ Military Aerospace
USAF Seeks Rapid Acquisition of SiAW-Equivalent Missile \\ The Aviationist
DARPA seeks faster production of hypersonic heat shields \\ Defence Blog
U.S. Air Force seeks VTOL drone for operations in Qatar \\ Defence Blog
Rethinking military batteries: researchers eye non-rigid energy storage for uncrewed and wearable systems \\ Military Aerospace
Researchers eye insect brain-level computing to bring low-power artificial intelligence (AI) to the edge \\ Military Aerospace
NASA outlines requirements for high-performance Mars Telecommunications Network spacecraft \\ Military Aerospace
SNC and Specter Aerospace sign agreement to develop next-generation supersonic aerial effects \\ Defence Industry Europe
Army calls on industry for joint-funding ideas in bid to ‘de-risk’ investments, increase production \\ Defense Scoop
NRC Invests over $900 million Under Defence Industrial Strategy \\ Canadian Defence Review
Saber Astronautics opens space research, defence tech facility in ‘heart of Sydney tech central’ \\ Defence Connect
Never miss a story. The best defense tech news, curated weekly directly to your inbox.
Hit reply anytime
I read every message and would love to hear what's working, what's missing, or what you want to see more of.