Aurora-Columbus lands DoD X-Plane contract

Aurora Flight Sciences, a Columbus, Miss., firm that designs and builds robotic aircraft and other advanced aerospace vehicles for scientific and military applications, has been awarded a $14 million Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract to assist in development of an experimental Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft for the Defense Department. Work will be performed at the East Mississippi plant, according to a Saturday media release from U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), vice chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations subcommittee. This award, says Cochran, is “an example of Mississippi companies successfully competing for programs that bring high tech jobs to our state, while providing the best equipment and capabilities to our Armed Forces." Source: The Associated Press, Dec. 15, 2013.