It's a bird... it's a plane... NO! It's a heliplane!

Helicopters are by their nature vertical takeoff or landing craft, which can land pretty much anywhere. While that's great, they are not exactly fast in the air - making them easy targets for jets and shoulder launched missiles. DARPA wants something like a chopper, but one that flies faster when in the air.

The current subcontractor was apparently not cutting it, so DARPA is bringing in researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and will get Scaled Composites (X-Prize, remember?) to build the airframe.