Vertol drones for Cargo? Next-generation helicopters canachieve higher performance with variable-speed rotors likethis Boeing A160T Hummngbird.

The structures for an unmanned airborne resupply system were laid

throughout two trials in 1998, when the United States Navy as well as Marine Corps used a.

manned Kaman Aerospace K-Max as a 'surrogate' drone in.

upright replenishment (Vertrep) trials, showing the supply of.

Militaries ashore from small, high-speed vessels off the coast.

In this limited technological analysis of the Broadarea Unmanned . Responsive ResupplyOperations (Burro) principle, the K-Max supplied . specific lots of as much as 2720 kg. Freightpickups were made at accelerate . to 52 km/h from an Office of Naval Research study (ONR) SeaSlice vessel. .

.

K-Max . . The K-Max was developed especially to move sling tons.

It . has a single 1000-kW Honeywell T53 engine, as well as a maximum take-off weight . of 5440kg, permitting a payload of as much as 2720 kg. The K-Max is accredited . by the FAA (FederalAviation Administration) to bring sling-loads at up . to 15,000 feet, with a never-exceed airspeed of148 km/h. The 38th as well as (so . far) last example was supplied in 2004. There are currently 22in . operation in 7 nations. .

. The Burro programme continued with a $4.2 million contract awarded . to Kaman in July 1999 tocreate a distant aviation bundle for an . unmanned K-Max. A$ 2.7 million follow-on contract waschecked in May 2000. .

. During that exact same month the K-Max had its first trip in . optionally-piloted form. Theairplane made use of for these tests was the . 2nd K-Max prototype (enrollment N131KA), whichhad initial flown in . September 1993.

.

. US Army attention was sparked by air travel presentations at.

Kaman's Bloom-field, Connecticut facility as well as at Redstone Collection.

in Alabama. The Army's Aeronautics and also Missile Command sponsored.

further demonstrations in 2003 at Eglin AFB in Florida.

Kaman next developed an outside gas container for the K-Max, . increasing ferry array to over

1800 km. More army presentations took . area in 2006 and 2007, consisting of a simulated goallasting over

. twelve hrs. . . In March 2007 Kaman accompanied Lockheed Martin to develop Team K-Max, .to establish a sophisticated technology optionally-piloted variation, efficient in . completelyindependent freight distribution. Lockheed Martin incorporated a mission . administration systemon to the Unmanned K-Max, attached by means of line-of-sight . datalink to a ground controllerrunning a hand-held . command-and-control tablet computer. . .

In 2008 the Unmanned K-Max was demonstrated at Ft Eustis, home of . the US Military TransportCorps, as well as at Marine Corps Base Quantico, . both in Virginia. . . In April 2009 the MarineCorps Warfighting Research laboratory released an RFP (request for proposition) on its ImmediatePayload UAS job for the . autonomous shipping of urgent products to forward running bases in .

Afghanistan. . . In August 2009 Kaman received in support of Group K-Max an $ 860,000 . demoagreement from the United States Marine Corps. At the same time Boeing . received a $ 500,000agreement to show the A160T Hummingbird. .

. The need created right into demonstrating the capacity to . transportation 1135 kg over a roundjourney of 280 km in 6 hours, for three . consecutive days. The drone was to be able to lift aspecific tons of . 450 kg, cruise ship at 130 km/h, float out of ground result at 12,000 to . 15,000feet, and have the ability to operate at heights around 20,000 ft. It was . likewise to drop the tonswith a precision of ten metres family member to a . pre-planned aim-point. .

. In October 2009 Team K-Max upgraded their plane by mounting . and also checking a moredurable line-of-sight datalink, a satellite-based . beyond-line-of-sight data-link in addition to animproved onboard objective . management computer. In November and December 2009 tests werecarried out . at the United States Military's Yuma Research center in Arizona, consisting of airtravels . approximately 15,000 ft, evening operations and also a number of freight dropspast . line-of-sight

. . . Navair(Naval Air Units Command)issued a pre-solicitation notification . for the PayloadUnmanned Airplane Computer Services on 19 November 2009. . This was due to be adhered to bythe formal solicitation notice by the end .

of

the year. . . Sometimes of composing, further Unmanned K-Max demonstrations are.

prepared for late January 2010 at the United States Military's Dugway Confirmation.

Ground in Utah. It is expected that shortly afterwards the US Navy will.

problem in support of the United States Marine Corps an RFP to deploy Payload UAS.

Solutions to Afghanistan before completion of the year.

The chosen specialist group(s) will certainly collaborate with a Marine Corps . ExpeditionaryBrigade VMU (a fixed-wing US Marine Corps drone squadron) . in a new device named the VMU-Cargo UAS Detachment. More than one agreement . could be awarded, initially for twelve months,with a twelve-month . follow-on choice.

.

.

A160T . . One more task pertaining to autonomous airborne freight distribution is the . SpecialOperations Long Stamina Presentation (Sled) programme, a . joint task by Darpa and US Socom(US Unique Procedures Command). The . programme is intended to examine 10 pre-productionBoeing Al60Ts (recently . designated YQM-18A), which were provided in October-November 2008.The . trials are being run jointly by Darpa and the US Military Aviation Applied . Moderntechnology Directorate. .

. Socom plans to release 3 A160Ts to a concealed area .(most likely in southwest Asia) and,starting in FY12, to get 20 . production A160Ts for strike as well as surveillance duties. .

. The piston-engined Frontier Aircraft A160 initially flew in 2002. The . company was taken over byBoeing in 2004, as well as the A160T with a 426-kW . Pratt & Whitney Canada PW207D turboshaftflew in June 2007. . Growth was funded in a collection of contracts by Darpa as well as the UnitedStates . services. The A160T is uncommon in showcasing an Optimum Rate Blades as well as a .high energy portion, providing phenomenal rate, variety and also endurance. .

. The A160T has a gross weight of 2950 kg and also it can carry a payload . of 1135 kg withreduced gas. It has hovered at 20,000 feet from ground . result and also showed an endurance of18.7 hours with a payload of 135 .

kg

. . . The A160T was not designed initially for sling tons, yet was the . subject of a Payload SlingTons Testing/Demonstration programme in FY09, . jointly moneyed by Transportation Command,Socom, Joint Forces Command . and also the United States Marine Corps. It can navigate at 130km/h with an 1135-kg sling . tons, and at approximately 260 km/h with an underbelly cargosheath. .

.

United States Army . . The United States Army supposedly visualizes a cargo drone resupplycomputer . being made use of just for priority items, and also only in the longer term. The .military continues to be the Government's lead solution for maturing rotorcraft modern technology,as well as has a long-lasting plan to convert some manned energy as well as . transportationhelicopters to optionally-manned kind. .

. The military is also taking into consideration various other resupply choices, consisting of the.

concept of a single manned helicopter (such as a Sikorsky UH-60).

controlling up to 5 'ploded' Unmanned K-Maxes. This would.

permit the operation to be executed with only line-of-sight.

communications. A test to examine this principle is to be done.

quickly at Ft Eustis, Virginia.

Next Generation .

. In considering future vtol freight drones to fulfill emerging United States Military . and UnitedStates Marine Corps demands, new concepts offer the prospect of . much higher efficiency. .

. In Nov 2009 AAI, an operating system of Textron Units, signed . a 40-year special licensingagreement with Carter Aeronautics . Technologies on the latter's SR/C (Slowed Rotor/Compound)aircraft . innovation. Basically, the SR/C idea integrates an unpowered reduced . blades with afixed-wing of high aspect proportion. Both business are . studying a turboshaft-powered 3300-kgdrone with a 1360-kg payload . capability, an array of 2400 km as well as a cruise line speed ofapproximately 460 km/h. .

. The United States Navy's Office of Naval Study (ONR) is moneying . studies of a future freightcomputer. In this context, Northrop Grumman is . working with a task named Muvr (probablyMaritime Unmanned Upright . Replenishment), a fan-in-wing principle created to lift payload skinsof . as much as 4535 kg from the trip deck of any kind of 'air-capable' ship. .

. Another next-generation principle for drones is the tilt-rotor, . originated in manned airplane formby the Bell Boeing MV-22B. Baldwin . Modern technology's Mono Tiltrotor (MTR) replaces thewingtip-mounted . blades of the MV-22B with centreline-mounted coaxial contra-rotating . rotors.A fold-out wing setup could well assist the drone in . onward flight.

. . Baldwin got contracts from ONR in 2003 as well as 2009, and from the . United States Army in2005 and also 2007. These show up to be causing a small . modern technology demonstrator thatwould certainly pave the method for a major Model . 800 drone. This would have 2 1165-kW Rolls-Royce/Honeywell T800 . turboshafts, a gross weight of 4265 kg, a 1360-kg payload as well as atrip . rate of 370 km/h at 20,000 ft. .

.

Fire Scout . . One candidate not shortlisted for the US Marine Corps Immediate . Freight UAStests was the Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Precursor, . which-- although chosen by both the USMilitary and Navy for monitoring . functions-- is probably too little to be considered for anythingbut unexpected emergency . materials in the here and now context. The MQ-8B has a 240-kWRolls-Royce 250 . turboshaft as well as a gross weight of 1430 kg with 586 kg of gas as well as a .maximum payload of 320 kg. It has an optimal rate of 217 km/h, a ceiling . of 20,000 feet and anendurance of six hours. Despite its little dimension, the . United States Navy is taking intoconsideration adapting the MQ-8B to ferry materials between .

ships.

. . In an even lighter category than the MQ-8B, the 200-kg Schiebel . Camcopter S-100, which hasan optimum payload of 50 kg, is being promoted . to United States armed forces clients by Boeing.Schiebel is examining a scaled-up . S-200, with a payload of 100 kg. This might fly within threeyears, if a . market is developed. .

.

SnowGoose .

. Another computer that might have been thought about too light for US . Marine Corps requires isthe Mmist CQ-10B Snowgoose, which is still in . advancement. The 'Bravo' variation is a by-productof the . parafoil-equipped CQ-10A, which has actually been utilized by Socom for leafleting . andalso could be released from a moving Humvee. The CQ-10B replaces the . parafoil of the CQ-10Awith an unpowered blades that can be spun up on . the ground for a jump-start, giving 'near-vtol'speed . Max payload is only 227 kg, however the CQ-10B can provide 1088 kg in 24 . hrs over a150 km distance. The ONR has actually ordered 2 CQ-10Bs for . ship-based cargo UAS tests. .

.

Ducted Props .

. Piasecki Airplane has been working on vtol tasks using twin . vectored-thrust ducted props. Itmight be thought that the . business's proposal for the United States Marine Corps competitionwas based on its . Combat Paramedic UAV job, one of a number of research studies moneyed underthe United States . Army's Combat Paramedic UAS for Resupply and also Evacuationprogramme. . Piasecki's CM-UAV has actually been the topic of 2 contracts awarded in . 2007 aswell as 2008 by the United States Military's Medical Research Purchase . Task. In concept, ductedpropellers or followers require much more power . compared to a helicopter, but supply higherspeeds as well as much better compatibility with . city operations.

.

. The Peterborough-based Aesir in Britain has an array of projects . which take the ducted-fanprinciple even more by making use of the Coanda . impact. The largest in the series is the cargo-carrying Hoder, designed . for a 1000-kg payload. .

. It would certainly have been shocking not to see Israel uninvolved in this . subject. UrbanAeronautics has actually been helping a variety of years on a . cargo-medevac drone. The companyannounced that the resultant Airmule . had actually executed its first connected air travel lastJanuary. Because . establishing United States passion in vtol cargo drones, Urban Aeronauticshas . developed a larger and also 50 % larger derivative, which it claimed would certainly be .with the ability of over 400 km/h. .

. Roy Braybrook, input from Eric H. Biass .

.