American aviation research company Aurora Flight Sciences is developing an X-plane, a plane that could take off vertically without the need for airport runways. The company has just been selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for a contract of more than $89 million for the innovation.

Aurora presented the X-plane design, called the LightningStrike, for DARPA's Vertical Takeoff and Landing Experimental Plane (VXP) program. According to Air&Space Smithsonian, the program's ultimate goal is to develop a plane that can hover and fly fast, a challenge faced by airplanes designers until now. So far, the resulting aircraft have been either inefficient in both hover and flight, dangerous, or extremely expensive.

The program has awarded three other groups besides Aurora - Boeing, Lockheed/Sikorsky team, and Karem Aircraft. The four teams got some seed money to work on their designs, which the DARPA considered having great potential in the immediate future.

Aurora teams up with Rolls-Royce PLC and Honeywell International Inc. in designing the LightningStrike. CompositesWorld reported that the unmanned aircraft features a Rolls-Royce AE 1107C turboshaft engine that would power three Honeywell generators, as well as 24 ducted fans distributed on the wings and canards. The electric distributed propulsion (EDP) system, consist of highly integrated and distributed ducted fans with a synchronous electric drive system, will support the design's hover efficiency and high-speed forward flight like never seen before.

Aurora chairman and CEO Dr. John Langford expressed the company's delight in receiving the contract. "Aurora is proud to support DARPA on what we all hope to be a truly historic breakthrough in aviation technology," he said. Furthermore, Dr. Langford added that if successful, the X-Plane could lead to "revolutionary advancement of the U.S. military's future mission capabilities". As for now, LightningStrike is aiming to increase speed by 50 percent compared to current vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.

Not more than two weeks after Aurora received the contract with DARPA on March 3, the company also secured an undisclosed transaction of investment from Enlightenment Capital, an aerospace, defense, and government-focused investment firm. The investment assures that Aurora's strategy will remain aligned to expanding military as well as commercial market opportunities, as reported by MarketWired.

The recent $89 million contract with the government's DARPA and investment from Enlightenment Capital established Aurora Flight Sciences' place in the aviation sector, especially in innovation and development. The company is now developing the X-plane project that can take off vertically, with the design and technology that can the plane hover efficiently and fly forward with a decent speed.