
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) said Wednesday it awarded prime contracts to Boeing [BA], Aurora Flight Sciences, Karem Aircraft and United Technologies Corp. [UTX] unit Sikorsky for the agency’s vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) experimental plane (X-Plane) program. DARPA seeks to innovate cross pollination between the fixed-wing and rotary-wing worlds to enable radical improvements in vertical and cruise flight capabilities. DARPA said for generations new designs for VTOL aircraft have remained unable to increase top speed without sacrificing…