The structures for an unmanned airborne resupply system were laidthroughout two trials in 1998, when...

1. Vertol drones for Cargo? Next-generation helicopters can
achieve higher performance with variable-speed rotors like
this 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 Resupply
Operations (Burro) principle, the K-Max supplied
. specific lots of as much as 2720 kg. Freight
pickups were made at accelerate
. to 52 km/h from an Office of Naval Research study (ONR) Sea
Slice 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 5440
kg, permitting a payload of as much as 2720 kg. The K-Max is accredited
. by the FAA (Federal
Aviation Administration) to bring sling-loads at up
. to 15,000 feet, with a never-exceed airspeed of
148 km/h. The 38th as well as (so
. far) last example was supplied in 2004. There are currently 22
in
. operation in 7 nations.
.
. The Burro programme continued with a $4.2 million contract awarded
. to Kaman in July 1999 to
create a distant aviation bundle for an
. unmanned K-Max. A$ 2.7 million follow-on contract was
checked in May 2000.
.
. During that exact same month the K-Max had its first trip in
. optionally-piloted form. The
airplane made use of for these tests was the
. 2nd K-Max prototype (enrollment N131KA), which
had 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

2. 1800 km. More army presentations took
. area in 2006 and 2007, consisting of a simulated goal
lasting 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
. completely
independent freight distribution. Lockheed Martin incorporated a mission
. administration system
on to the Unmanned K-Max, attached by means of line-of-sight
. datalink to a ground controller
running a hand-held
. command-and-control tablet computer.
.
.
In 2008 the Unmanned K-Max was demonstrated at Ft Eustis, home of
. the US Military Transport
Corps, as well as at Marine Corps Base Quantico,
.
both in Virginia.
.
. In April 2009 the Marine
Corps Warfighting Research laboratory released an RFP (request for proposition) on its Immediate
Payload 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
. demo
agreement from the United States Marine Corps. At the same time Boeing
. received a $ 500,000
agreement to show the A160T Hummingbird.
.
. The need created right into demonstrating the capacity to
. transportation 1135 kg over a round
journey of 280 km in 6 hours, for three
. consecutive days. The drone was to be able to lift a
specific tons of
. 450 kg, cruise ship at 130 km/h, float out of ground result at 12,000 to
. 15,000
feet, and have the ability to operate at heights around 20,000 ft. It was
. likewise to drop the tons
with 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 more
durable line-of-sight datalink, a satellite-based
. beyond-line-of-sight data-link in addition to an
improved onboard objective
. management computer. In November and December 2009 tests were
carried out
. at the United States Military's Yuma Research center in Arizona, consisting of air
travels
. approximately 15,000 ft, evening operations and also a number of freight drops
past
.
line-of-sight
.
.
. Navair(Naval Air Units Command)issued a pre-solicitation notification
. for the Payload
Unmanned Airplane Computer Services on 19 November 2009.
. This was due to be adhered to by
the 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
. Expeditionary
Brigade 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.

3. .
.
A160T
.
. One more task pertaining to autonomous airborne freight distribution is the
. Special
Operations 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-production
Boeing 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
. Modern
technology 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 by
Boeing in 2004, as well as the A160T with a 426-kW
. Pratt & Whitney Canada PW207D turboshaft
flew in June 2007.
. Growth was funded in a collection of contracts by Darpa as well as the United
States
. 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 with
reduced gas. It has hovered at 20,000 feet from ground
. result and also showed an endurance of
18.7 hours with a payload of 135
.
kg
.
.
. The A160T was not designed initially for sling tons, yet was the
. subject of a Payload Sling
Tons 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 130
km/h with an 1135-kg sling
. tons, and at approximately 260 km/h with an underbelly cargo
sheath.
.
.
United States Army
.
. The United States Army supposedly visualizes a cargo drone resupply
computer
. 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
. transportation
helicopters to optionally-manned kind.
.

4. . 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 United
States 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 licensing
agreement 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 a
fixed-wing of high aspect proportion. Both business are
. studying a turboshaft-powered 3300-kg
drone with a 1360-kg payload
. capability, an array of 2400 km as well as a cruise line speed of
approximately 460 km/h.
.
. The United States Navy's Office of Naval Study (ONR) is moneying
. studies of a future freight
computer. In this context, Northrop Grumman is
. working with a task named Muvr (probably
Maritime Unmanned Upright
. Replenishment), a fan-in-wing principle created to lift payload skins
of
. 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 form
by the Bell Boeing MV-22B. Baldwin
. Modern technology's Mono Tiltrotor (MTR) replaces the
wingtip-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 in
2005 and also 2007. These show up to be causing a small
. modern technology demonstrator that
would 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 a
trip
. rate of 370 km/h at 20,000 ft.
.
.
Fire Scout
.
. One candidate not shortlisted for the US Marine Corps Immediate
. Freight UAS
tests was the Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Precursor,
. which-- although chosen by both the US
Military and Navy for monitoring
. functions-- is probably too little to be considered for anything
but unexpected emergency
. materials in the here and now context. The MQ-8B has a 240-kW
Rolls-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 an
endurance of six hours. Despite its little dimension, the
. United States Navy is taking into
consideration adapting the MQ-8B to ferry materials between
.

5. ships.
.
. In an even lighter category than the MQ-8B, the 200-kg Schiebel
. Camcopter S-100, which has
an 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 three
years, if a
. market is developed.
.
.
SnowGoose
.
. Another computer that might have been thought about too light for US
. Marine Corps requires is
the Mmist CQ-10B Snowgoose, which is still in
. advancement. The 'Bravo' variation is a by-product
of the
. parafoil-equipped CQ-10A, which has actually been utilized by Socom for leafleting
. and
also could be released from a moving Humvee. The CQ-10B replaces the
. parafoil of the CQ-10A
with 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 a
150 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. It
might be thought that the
. business's proposal for the United States Marine Corps competition
was based on its
. Combat Paramedic UAV job, one of a number of research studies moneyed under
the United States
. Army's Combat Paramedic UAS for Resupply and also Evacuation
programme.
. Piasecki's CM-UAV has actually been the topic of 2 contracts awarded in
. 2007 as
well as 2008 by the United States Military's Medical Research Purchase
. Task. In concept, ducted
propellers or followers require much more power
. compared to a helicopter, but supply higher
speeds as well as much better compatibility with
.
city operations.
.
. The Peterborough-based Aesir in Britain has an array of projects
. which take the ducted-fan
principle 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.
.

6. . It would certainly have been shocking not to see Israel uninvolved in this
. subject. Urban
Aeronautics has actually been helping a variety of years on a
. cargo-medevac drone. The company
announced that the resultant Airmule
. had actually executed its first connected air travel last
January. Because
. establishing United States passion in vtol cargo drones, Urban Aeronautics
has
. 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
.
.