Northrop Grumman Flies DARPA’s Hybrid-Electric Shepard Vehicle

Graham Warwick May 15, 2026

Northrop Grumman XRQ-73 Shepard — Wingtip vertical surfaces have been added to the flying-wing XRQ-73 for initial flight tests.

Credit: Northrop Grumman

In a bid to bridge the valley of death between technology demonstration and full-scale development, DARPA in 2021 came up with the concept of an X-Prime program that would fit between an experimental X-plane and a Y-plane prototype, helping transition capabilities from research to operation. After...

Graham Warwick

Graham leads Aviation Week's coverage of technology, focusing on engineering and technology across the aerospace industry, with a special focus on identifying technologies of strategic importance to aviation, aerospace and defense.

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