A revolutionary* new robotic whisper-mode helicopter under development in America has crashed, according to reports.

The US government's silent robot helicopter.

Not black! What were they thinking?

The A160T "Hummingbird" unmanned chopper was under development by US aerospace colossus Boeing for the Pentagon deathboffin bureau, DARPA (the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency) and the Special Operations Command. Likely end-users would include top-secret American special-forces units operating undercover.

The design features a new variable-speed rotor configuration which Boeing believes will offer improved range, speed, height and the ability to "operate much more quietly than current helicopters".

Given this background, Boeing's choice of colour scheme seems at odds with popular culture to say the least. White is the new black when it comes to silent government helicopters, seemingly.

However, it appears that the you-didn't-see-us crowd may have to wait a while for their new ride. Flight International reports that the sole flying A160T prototype was destroyed in a crash on Monday during trials in California. The cause of the wreck is unknown thus far. Apparently this was the turbine-powered T model's tenth flight, though there was an earlier test programme involving basic piston-engined A160s. (That version suffered three crashes in 36 sorties.)

Flights of the (literally - cough) groundbreaking new helicopter will be suspended while an investigation takes place. There is apparently one further A160T in existence, but it is only being used for ground testing at present.

The Flight report is here. ®

*Ha ha

Related stories

• Secret US robo whispercopters head to 'undisclosed location' (6 May 2009)
• Killer robots to get silent-running whisper mode (23 January 2009)
• US spec-ops get robot whispercopter kill fleet this month (11 November 2008)
• DARPA's Heliplane retrocopter project in trouble (2 June 2008)
• Boeing robot whisper-copter team claims record (22 May 2008)
• Sikorsky X2 superwhirlybird enters ground spin-up phase (21 May 2008)
• DARPA wants microscopic atom clocks on chips (25 April 2008)
• X-48B mini flying-wing drone prototype resumes testing (16 April 2008)
• Boeing: Black's the new black for black-helicopter projects (1 April 2008)
• V-22 Osprey combo-copter hits fresh tech snags (20 March 2008)
• Robocopter gunship abandons sinking warship project (21 February 2008)
• Robot carrier planes start work early with Navy SEALs (12 February 2008)
• DARPA whirly-wing jet gyrocraft hits noise snags (11 January 2008)
• US Marines: Osprey tiltrotor doing OK in Iraq (8 January 2008)
• Russian railways in robot repairman revue (21 December 2007)
• Boeing robo-chopper for DARPA's super-spyeye (8 October 2007)
• Special-forces robot whisper-copter enters flight test (18 June 2007)
• Liverpool police get mini-Black Helicopter (21 May 2007)
• Chinese black helicopters circle Google Earth (19 July 2006)
• Black helicopter lands on eBay (23 March 2006)
• Lizard Army fuses woman with black helicopter (4 November 2005)
• Competition results Google Earth: the black helicopters have landed (14 October 2005)
• Competition Spot the black helicopter, win t-shirt (23 September 2005)