DARPA designates X-76 experimental aircraft after successful CDR

The Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT) project is a joint DARPA/US Special Operations Command to build a high speed plane capable of take off and flight without the need of a runway. (DARPA/Colie Wertz)

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) officially designated the experimental aircraft designed for its Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT) programme the X-76, following the completion of phase two of the project.

The SPRINT programme is a joint venture between DARPA and US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) to marry the vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities of a rotorcraft with the jet-engine functions of a fixed-wing aircraft on a single, unmanned platform.

Commander Ian Higgins, programme manager within DARPA's Tactical Technology Office, said the programme received an X-plane designation after Bell Textron, the aircraft's manufacturer, completed its Critical Design Review (CDR), telling Janes thatthe X-76 programme is on a “good glide slope” ahead of its first flight test in 2028.

Following the CDR, the programme will shift its focus to “manufacturing, integration, assembly, and ground testing of the X-76 demonstrator”, according to a DARPA statement.

DARPA downselected to Bell Textron in July 2025 after selecting four companies (including Aurora Flight Sciences, Northrop Grumman, and Piasecki Aircraft Corporation) for Phase 1A of the programme in November 2023.

“Bell had the design that we felt was most appropriate to continue forward with our Phase Two,” Cdr Higgins said. “We're finishing up that critical design, we're manufacturing the plane, doing all the ground system checkouts like hydraulics, electrical software, before we then enter a Phase Three.”