Student design team takes third in national aerospace design competition
After designing a high-performance but low-cost homeland defense interceptor — a component of the U.S. missile defense system that detects, tracks, and destroys incoming long-range ballistic missiles — a Virginia Tech team brought home the bronze at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) 2025 Undergraduate Team Aircraft Design Competition.
Virginia Tech’s Project SPEAR claimed third place in the annual competition, sponsored by the AIAA Foundation, which invites students to solve a real-world problem and receive useful feedback from technical experts.
“The RFPs in this annual competition are intentionally open-ended, challenging teams to think at the systems level, understand the aircraft’s operating environment, and derive appropriate performance requirements,” said faculty advisor Darshan Sarojini, assistant professor in the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering. “This structure makes the competition an excellent fit for integration into our senior capstone design process.”
This year’s challenge: design a small, cost-effective homeland defense interceptor that can perform multiple missions. As part of the process, students applied traditional aircraft design disciplines such as aerodynamics, propulsion, and stability and control, but they also incorporated avionics systems for remote piloting and ensured the aircraft was resilient to counter–electronic warfare measures.
Virginia Tech’s design, SPEAR, was engineered to perform three key missions — a defensive counter air patrol, point defense intercept, and intercept/escort — while staying under a $25 million cost.
Key features of SPEAR’s design include:
High performance: SPEAR’s interceptor is capable of Mach 1.8 speeds and rapidly climbs to 35,000 feet.
Low-cost maintenance: The design utilizes commercial off-the-shelf parts and familiar systems like the F414-GE-400 engine.
All-weather, all-runway operability: SPEAR is designed for deployment across diverse climates and standard NATO airfields.
Scalability and future-readiness: SPEAR would be built with modular systems, advanced avionics, and materials like aluminum and carbon fiber.
Combat versatility: The design is configurable with AIM-120D and AIM-9X missiles and features fire-resistant fuel tanks.
SPEAR fills a critical gap left by aging platforms like the F-16, F-22, and F-35, offering a scalable, next-generation solution for homeland defense, with a planned entry into service by 2032.
Dozens of university teams from across the country competed in the AIAA challenge, which included a written report and an intense design review by a panel of experts from academia, industry, and government. Teams are evaluated on their technical paper and their focus on evaluation criteria and design considerations.
Project SPEAR was co-advised by Sarojini and Professor Robert Canfield. Team members included recent aerospace and ocean engineering graduates Alexander Bashensky, Anthony Dersahakian, Basile Fages, Joey Gould, Seth Rosina, Nathan Shune, Calvin Siemers, and Salvatore Vella. The team was awarded a $500 prize for placing third.
