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DARPA this week announced that Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences has begun building an aircraft that can maneuver without the need for traditional flight control surfaces.

Through the CRANE initiative, DARPA and Aurora are trying to break the mold of a feature foundational to aviation’s century-plus existence. Whereas aircraft have been operated with flight control surfaces — e.g. flaps and rudders — the CRANE drone is being designed to instead leverage pressurized air using active flow control (AFC) actuators to shape an aircraft’s flight.

The unmanned vehicle itself could fly as soon as summer 2025.