VTOL
UAS Use
The Department of Defense (DoD) is
focusing on vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capability in future UAS
procurements. Richard Whittle, known for
his book about the Predator UAS, this year wrote three articles about VTOL UAS. The articles discuss DoD’s need for VTOL UAS capabilities
and potential solutions in the near term.
While DoD is allowing industry
to come up with innovative concepts, the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) is developing concepts that will produce prototypes in the
coming year. DARPA is answering the
military services’ urgent requirement by building the Aerial Reconfigurable
Embedded System (ARES) with the help of Lockheed Martin and Plasecki
Aircraft. The “transformer” looking
aircraft is designed so that the fuselage/payload under the wing structure is
modular. Depending on the mission, the aircraft
is configured to provide the warfighter the most flexibility. By using this concept, the “useful load” will
serve a small military unit in remote areas.
Described as a tilt-rotor design, the propulsion system is similar to
the existing V-22 Osprey manned aircraft (Whittle, 2016b).
The Army is vocal about their
need for VTOL. Earlier this year, Gen
Lundy stated that the Army has sufficient UAS to do their mission, but lack
VTOL capable unmanned aircraft that can respond quicker to their operational
needs. Currently, UAS at forward operating
bases are at times more than four hours from the troops they support. Future UAS need to be runway independent and
be able to support quicker. They also
will be needed to perform more than just traditional intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance (ISR) missions (Whittle, 2016c).
The Marines are just as eager to
get VTOL capable UAS. They have
requested resources in the Fiscal Year 2018 budget to develop a new sea-based,
armed VTOL UAS. Lt. General Davis
believes the technology is available and that technology demonstrations can
occur within a year of receiving their funds. Among the potential candidates
are the Bell Helicopter V-247 Vigilant, Northrup Grumman TERN, and a tiltrotor
offered by Karem Aircraft, the inventor of the Predator UAS. USMC wants to
operate their future armed VTOL UAS from ships as well as from austere
locations (Whittle, 2016b).
While these examples of VTOL capable unmanned aircraft focus on DoD requirements, the civilian sector will greatly benefit
from these advancements. The commercial sector,
particularly those that operate in remote environments are in need of VTOL capable
UAS because runways are far from their areas of operations. While the commercialization of the V-22 Osprey
has not taken off, one can expect that this will not be the case for these new VTOL
UAS.
References
Whittle, R. (2014). Predator: The Secret
Origins of the Drone Revolution. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Whittle, R. (2016a, October 26). Davis: Marines
Want VTOL Drone Before FVL. Retrieved November 14, 2016, from
http://breakingdefense.com/2016/10/davis-marines-want-vtol-drone-before-fvl/
Whittle, R. (2016b, October 17). DARPA Do-It-All
Drone Among New VTOLs Nearing Flight. Retrieved November 14, 2016, from
http://breakingdefense.com/2016/10/darpa-do-it-all-drone-among-new-vtols-nearing-flight/
Whittle, R. (2016c, January 14). Army’s Got
Enough Drones; New Ones Should Be VTOL, Lundy says. Retrieved November 14,
2016, from http://breakingdefense.com/2016/01/armys-got-enough-drones-new-ones-should-be-vtol-lundy-says/
