Finmeccanica’s AgustaWestland this week took the wraps off its Project Zero—a tiltrotor technology demonstrator already secretly flown over the past two years.

The demonstrator was designed and built in less than six months, funded entirely by the company as part of its research and development work.

Project Zero is powered completely by electricity, designed to hover like a helicopter, and convert to a fixed-wing configuration for forward flight. It has two integrated rotors that can be tilted through more than 90 degrees.

The demonstrator performed its first unmanned flight at the AgustaWestland Cascina Costa site in Italy and has also performed untethered hovering flights in a secure area, the company said in a statement.

AgustaWestland’s CEO Daniele Romiti said, “The ‘Project Zero’ technology demonstrator program brings together many of the advanced technologies AgustaWestland has been researching in recent years and demonstrates our strong technological base from which we will develop new products to meet the needs of our customers in the future. We strongly believe in the tiltrotor concept as the future of high speed rotorcraft flight as it offers much greater speed and range than compound helicopter technology.”

James Wang, vice president of Research and Technology at AgustaWestland, said, “This is a wonderful achievement of the AgustaWestland Advanced Concepts Group. A team of passionate and brilliant engineers worked extremely hard in a secure facility to conceive, design, build and test this technology demonstrator in an exceptionally short period of time. This  group lives to dream, and if it can be dreamed, it can be built. The team did not just build an electric powered airplane or helicopter; that would have been too easy. They went all out and built a twin rotor electric tiltrotor with no transmission or swashplates.”

Advanced electric motors drive the demonstrator’s rotors, and they are powered by rechargeable batteries, the statement said. Future hybrid solutions have also been examined using a diesel engine to drive a generator. All of the aircraft flight control systems, flight control and landing gear actuators are electrically powered, removing the need for any hydraulic system.

WhIle cruising, the demonstrator’s wings will provide most of the lift, with the blended fuselage and shroud also making a contribution. Project Zero has been designed with detachable outer wings for missions that will be performed primarily in helicopter mode. Elevons provide pitch and roll control in forward flight while the V-tail provides longitudinal stability. The aircraft has very low noise and thermal signature in flight and does not require oxygen, so it can fly at altitude or in heavily polluted conditions, such as volcanic eruptions.

On he ground, the demonstrator’s rotors can be tilted forward and the aircraft pointed into wind to allow the rotors to windmill and recharge the aircraft’s electrical storage device, the company said. The electrical drive system also has the advantage that it does away with the complex and heavy transmission system required by conventional rotorcraft.