2
Vehicles built
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Link to original content: https://scaled.com/portfolio/sierra/
Model No.
401
First Flight
October 11, 2017
The Model 401 Sierra project called for a clean sheet design of two low-cost manufacturing technology demonstrator aircraft; flown by a single pilot, powered by a single turbofan, and operating at medium altitudes. The two vehicles are carbon copies of each other. Scaled utilized its in-house agile development processes to concurrently design and build these two demonstrator aircraft, validating Scaled’s digital design and advanced manufacturing methods. By rapidly building two of the same vehicle, Scaled was able to implement design and build solutions discovered on the first aircraft immediately into the second.
Development took only 24 months from initial concept to achieve first flight for the Model 401s - Vehicle 1 first flew on October 11, 2017 and six short months later, Vehicle 2 took its first flight on April 11, 2018.
Following initial performance envelope expansion, both aircraft conduct payload development testing for a wide variety of customers. The aircraft are able to incorporate a diverse range of payload systems with over 80 cubic feet of internal payload volume and up to 2,000 pounds of payload weight capacity.
The vehicles are powered by a Pratt & Whitney JT15D-5 engine generating 2,965 pounds of thrust, attaining a cruise speed of Mach 0.60 and operating manned missions up to 25,000 feet.