Defense and aerospace giant Boeing is buying its way into a bunch of new expertise in advanced aviation concepts, particularly unmanned and autonomous planes. The company said today it would buy Aurora Flight Systems for an undisclosed sum.

Virginia-based Aurora started up in 1989. As Aviation Week notes:

Aurora has risen to prominence in recent years by winning major research projects with DARPA and NASA against competition from Boeing, Lockheed Martin and others.

One of those successes came last year, when Aurora actually beat Boeing and others to win a DARPA contract to develop a vertical takeoff and landing demo plane called the XV-24A LightningStrike. Propelled by 24 ducted fans, the XV-24A transforms its shape mid-flight. The full-sized version would be a drone. Watch a flight test of the demo here:

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Aurora has developed a host of other unmanned aviation systems. Other cool Aurora projects include testing DARPA's robotic arm that can fly a plane, as well as a super-efficient plane design that could use 70 percent less fuel than a normal aircraft (the design won a Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award in 2010).

From the press release:

"Since its inception, Aurora has been focused on the development of innovative aircraft that leverage autonomy to make aircraft smarter," said John Langford, Aurora Flight Sciences founder and chief executive officer. "As an integral part of Boeing, our pioneered technologies of long-endurance aircraft, robotic co-pilots, and autonomous electric VTOLs will be transitioned into world-class products for the global infrastructure."

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