DARPA Complete First Flight of XRQ-73 Hybrid Stealth Drone
The Group 3 drone is designed to cut fuel use and acoustic signatures while preserving endurance and payload capacity, DARPA said.
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6 Articles
The US military flew an experimental, hybrid-electric stealth drone shaped like the B-2 Spirit
The XRQ-73 flew in April in California, DARPA said.DARPAAn experimental US tactical stealth drone called the XRQ-73 just took flight in California.The US military said the stealth drone mixes electric and jet fuel propulsion for better efficiency.The drone is shaped like other stealth aircraft, such as the B-2 Spirit and the RQ-170 Sentinel.The US military's defense tech agency said on Wednesday that it flew an experimental hybrid-electric drone…
DARPA begins flying experimental hybrid-electric ISR drone
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has notched the first flight of the XRQ-73, a reconnaissance drone designed to demonstrate hybrid-electric propulsion technologies for future autonomous systems. The flight occurred in April at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory and prime contractor Northrop Grumman, DARPA announced Wednesday. The drone is being developed under the agency’s Ser…
DARPA complete first flight of XRQ-73 hybrid stealth drone
DARPA flew a hybrid-electric unmanned experimental aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base in April 2026, marking the first flight milestone for a propulsion architecture the agency believes could fundamentally change how military aircraft are designed and what they can do. The aircraft, designated XRQ-73, was developed through DARPA’s Series Hybrid Electric Propulsion AiRcraft Demonstration program, […]
DARPA Flies XRQ-73 Hybrid-Electric Stealth Drone in Push for Quiet ISR Over Contested Airspace
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) flew the XRQ-73, a hybrid-electric unmanned experimental aircraft, at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in April 2026 as part of the Series Hybrid Electric Propulsion AiRcraft Demonstration (SHEPARD) program. DARPA announced the milestone May 6. We recently flew the XRQ-73 hybrid-electric unmanned aircraft in collaboration with @AFResearchLab and @northropgrumman at Edwards Air Force Base,…
DARPA's XRQ-73 SHEPARD Hybrid-Electric Flying Wing Prototype Takes Flight
Designed by Northrop Grumman and subsidiary Scaled Composites, the unmanned XRQ-73 features an ultra-quiet propulsion system powered by electricity from a gas turbine. Taking off from Edwards Air Force Base in April 2026, the XRQ-73’s first flight was hailed by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) as a “step forward in demonstrating the military utility of hybrid-electric propulsion”. The aircraft is the result of the agency’s Seri…
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