The M1400 lighter than air airc

1. M1400 Lighter-Than-Air Aircraft
WORLD’S MOST
AFFORDABLE ISR:
Meeting Today’s ISR
Demand with Innovation,
Integration, and Cost
Effectiveness
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OFFICE 703.340.1304 FAX 703.379.0677 MAV6.COM

2. M1400 Airship Characteristics
 Largest UAV in the world
• Over 100K ft3 of available payload area: Maneuvering Engine
Turbine Propulsion
unprecedented mission flexibility
• Up to 6,500 lb payload weight capacity
• Eight (8) major independent ISR payloads
 Most Bits per Dollar per Day
• Very low operating cost
 Most powerful UAV-based computer in
existence
• Enables on-board processing
• Minimizes air-to-ground data
 Semi-Automated sensor-to-sensor cueing for
enhanced threat detection
• Increases number of payloads that can be
simultaneously deployed and operated
 Modular payload integration architecture
• Significantly reduces aircraft-payload Power Car + Diesel
integration time and cost 1,610 ft3
Main Drive Engines
 Very long endurance
(23 ft x 10 ft x 7 ft)
• 2-7 days depending on payload & altitude
Payload Car Volume
 Largest UAV electrical power generation
capacity (120 kVA)
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3. Blue Devil Block II: On-going USAF program
leveraging the Mav6 M1400 airship for
persistent intelligence, surveillance, and
reconnaissance (ISR) operations.
“…at a 500-nautical mile combat radius, the Air Force’s BD2 would
have a payload-duration about 60 times greater than the Predator’s
and more than 10 times greater than the Reaper’s.”
Congressional Budget Office
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4. M1400 Operational Concept Example
Potential Coverage of SW Border
SENSOR COVERAGE
Operating 20,000 ft MSL
Altitude
EO/IR (Wide 110 mi radius (38,000 mi2
Aperture) coverage) @ 0.5m GSD
SAR-MTI Radar > 150 mi radius (> 76,000 mi2
coverage)
SIGINT 200 mi radius (125,000 mi2
coverage)
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5. M1400 Comprehensive ISR Capability
Hrs
Potential M1400 ISR Sensor Coverage A single M1400 can provide the types
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Operating of ISR capability of these 7 ISR systems
20,000
Altitude (ft) (SIGINT, COMINT, GMTI, EO/IR, HSI, etc.):
110 mi radius (38,000 mi2 simultaneously;
“Eyes”
coverage) at 3 to 10 times the duration; accomplish 12
200 mi radius (125,000 mi2 the processing on-board; and do it all for a
“Ears” fraction of the cost…
coverage)
32
12
?
80-120 hrs
On-station Vs=
.5
16
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6. M1400: Value Proposition
SIGNINT + COMINT + GMTI + EO/IR + HSI
Days
1 2 3 4 5
12 hour endurance A single M1400 can provide the types
$42K/hr
of ISR capability of these 7 ISR systems (SIGINT,
Sorties overlap to maintain Persistent Surveillance COMINT, GMTI, EO/IR, HSI, etc.):
12 hour endurance simultaneously; at 3 to 10 times the duration;
$45k/hr accomplish the processing on-board;
and do it all for a fraction of the cost…
32 hour endurance
$32k/hr Days
1 2 3 4 5
12 hour endurance
$42k/hr
OR $4k/hr
120 hour endurance
12 hour endurance
$36k/hr
0.5 hour endurance
?
16 hour endurance
$4k/hr
12
54X
# of Aircraft 9
>$27M $0.5M
Required for
120 Hours of 6
Continuous
3
Coverage for 120 hours of Persistent Surveillance
for 120 hours of Persistent Surveillance
Time the cost Time
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7. M1400 Modular Payload Integration
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8. M1400 Payload Options
M1400 can support the simultaneous deployment of a variety of mission payloads—
and integrate all with on-board computers, processing, and mass storage.
Wide-Area EO/IR Synthetic High Powered High Definition
Aperture Radar Full Motion Video
On-board Processing
High Bandwidth Weapons
Data Links Modules Multi-Mode Radar
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9. M1400 Key Elements
Innovation Integration Cost-Effectiveness
 Adapted mature airship  System-of-Systems Design:  High payload/
design to achieve rapid Designed as a multi-INT Long endurance
deliverable: Leverages system from the beginning enables greater
traditional hull design with cost-effectiveness:
less complexity and fewer  Mission-tailorable sensor Equivalent pound/hours of
moving parts than alternatives suite: Allows rapid ISR would require 10s of
reconfiguration in hours to multiples of other remotely
 Open Architecture: Sensor variety of sensor or comm piloted aircraft
agnostic payload payloads
infrastructure  Per flying dollar spent BD2
 Moves data processing to delivers more ISR capability
 Extensible Ground Segment: point of origin: Meets the per hour than other aircraft
Designed to meet tsunami of data challenge
expeditionary ISR
requirements with local multi-
sensor data management,
correlation, and storage
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10. M1400 Capabilities: Why it’s Unique
Provides persistence with largest multi-int payload in existence
 Wide Area EO/IR with largest aperture EO/IR spot capability
 Largest “real estate” for SIGINT antenna arrays on any ISR platform
Rapid tipping & cueing provides actionable ISR to users in seconds
 Sharing of event and geolocation data across disparate sensors directly to users
 Potential for automated sensor to sensor cuing (e.g. SIGINT to IMINT sensors)
 Find, fix, identify, and track HVI/HVT with HD sensing and SIGINT queues
On-board processing = more info to users with less bandwidth
 Moves data processing from ground to air reducing sensor-to-shooter latency
 Potential as focal point of an ISR constellation integrating multiple platforms
Multi-sensor processing ground station
 Multi-sensor C2 and visualization in the field reduces sensor analyst requirements
Mission-tailorable sensor suite—in hours not months/years
 Accelerates deployment and use of new sensing capabilities
 Adaptability to situation not available with any other ISR asset
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11. M1400 Value Proposition
To keep 6,000 lbs of ISR equipment on
station for 78 hours it takes:
1 M1400
39 Current Fixed-
Wing UAVs
468,000 lb-hrs ISR ÷ 11,900 lb-hrs ISR = 39.3 MQ-series RPAs per M1400
OR
468,000 lb-hrs ISR ÷ 11,900 lb-hrs ISR = 39.3 MQ-series RPAs per M1400
6,000 lbs ISR equipment x 78 hrs = 468,000 lb-hrs 850 lbs ISR equipment x 14 hrs = 11,900 lb-hrs
of ISR Mission Capability per aircraft of ISR Mission Capability per aircraft
High payload/Long endurance
enables greater cost-effectiveness
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12. M1400 Value Proposition
Current Fixed-
M1400 Wing UAVs
7 times the ISR
mission payload 6,000 lbs of ISR equipment 850 lbs of ISR equipment
AT
5-6 times the
endurance
78 hrs 14 hrs
FOR 75% the cost per
flight hour
$1,117/hr $1,456/hr
( 6,000 lbs x 78 hrs ÷ $1,117/hr ) ÷ ( 850 lbs x 14 hrs ÷ $1,456/hr ) = 52.375
Per flying dollar spent you get 52 times more ISR per
hour with M1400 than current fixed-wing UAVs
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13. CBO Payload-Duration Comparison
300,000
Payload-Duration (Pound-Hours)
250,000
200,000
M1400
150,000
100,000
50,000
MQ-9 Reaper
Grey Eagle
MQ-1 Predator
500 1,000 1,500 2,000
Combat Radius (Nautical Miles)
Source: Congressional Budget Office based on data provided by manufacturers. 13

14. Blue Devil 2 Progress

15. Example M1400 Mission Potential
 Humanitarian Assistance  Rapid Map Refresh
 Disaster Relief  Emergency Response
 Persistent Presence  Air Sampling
 Border Patrol  Crop Monitoring
 Law Enforcement  Insect/disease Control
 Traffic Management  Flood Control
 Crowd Control  Nuclear Monitoring
 Market Analysis  Counter-terrorism
 Counter-Drug Ops  Early Warning
 Communications Relay  Counter-proliferation
 Cell Phone Networking  Counter-piracy
 Home/Facility Security  Harbor Control
 Pipeline Monitoring  Special Operations
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