Aerospace

The radical 'Lightning Strike' plane powered by 24 electric fans is set for lift off: Military plane that can take off and land anywhere passes milestone test

It looks like a futuristic biplane, takes off like a helicopter and could be deployed as soon as 2018.

Earlier this year Darpa  announced the latest winner of its vertical take-off and landing experimental aircraft project called VTOL X-plane.

Now, the first prototype of the Lightning Strike has taken has completed its military tests, paving the way for a full sized version to begin construction.

Officially known as the XV-24A LightningStrike Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) XPlane, the 20% scale craft completed its planned flight test program in early March at Webster Outlying Field in Southern Maryland.

Funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the SVD successfully demonstrated key technical features the full-scale XV-24A will perform, including outbound and inbound transition flight.