Every year the AIAA Foundation with assistance from several AIAA Technical Committees and corporate sponsors Cessna Aircraft Company and Raytheon Missile Systems, sponsors a competition for undergraduate and graduate students to design and build a remote-controlled aircraft to perform specific tasks. Students then come together to face off against each other in April. Started in 1996 by the AIAA Applied Aerodynamics, Aircraft Design and Flight Test Technical Committees as an opportunity for university students to apply real-world aircraft design experience by giving them the opportunity to validate their analytic studies. Student teams design, fabricate, and demonstrate the flight capabilities of an unmanned, electric powered, radio-controlled aircraft which can best meet the specified mission profile. The goal is a balanced design possessing good demonstrated flight handling qualities and practical and affordable manufacturing requirements while providing a high vehicle performance.