Advanced Air Mobility (eVTOL / Urban Air Mobility)   UAV Development & Drone Programs   Helicopter   North America   Military Aircraft Procurement   Aircraft Manufacturing (OEMs)   Defense Industry & Major Contractors  

DARPA designates Bell SPRINT demonstrator X-76 after CDR; build to start ahead of 2028 flight

Bell’s SPRINT demonstrator completed its critical design review and received DARPA’s X‑plane designation X‑76, clearing construction of a fold‑away rotor, runway‑independent demonstrator that DARPA aims to fly in early 2028. The crewed/uncrewed concept targets ~400‑kt high‑speed VTOL performance and will explore folding‑rotor transitions and autonomous operation modes.

Discovered 2026-03-09T10:03:38.890964-07:00 | 2026-03-09T10:03:38.890964-07:00

Briefing

What Hype is tracking

  • The Critical Design Review clears demonstrator construction and formalizes the program as DARPA's X‑plane X‑76, with an early‑2028 first‑flight target and a ~400‑kt runway‑independent VTOL objective. See DARPA X‑plane designation context here.

  • Progress accelerates Bell's experimental effort and will drive near‑term flight‑test and supplier activity; the development sits alongside Bell's other certification and development work here and reflects a broader push toward compressed defense prototyping timelines here.

Reported By

meta-defense.fr aerotelegraph.com homelandprepnews.com Aerospace Testing Intnl FlightGlobal nextgendefense.com
Sources Tracked
42
First Seen
2026-03-09T10:03:38.890964-07:00
Latest Update
2026-03-14T03:59:44.509345-07:00
Coverage
Defense

Sources

Hype groups these reports into one evolving story so you can compare coverage without losing the thread.

Related Coverage