VTOL

Eurocopter UH145 wins US$3 billion contract

By Mike Hanlon

July 2, 2006 EADS has landed the hotly contested contract to supply the U.S. Army’s next-generation Light Utility Helicopters (LUH) in a deal worth up to US$ 3 billion. The French-German company teamed with Sikorsky Aircraft to win the contest with its Eurocopter UH-145, a military version of the EC145. The UH145 flies at 131 kts, has a range of 370 nm, endurance of 3.4 hrs and can carry 2 pilots and 8 passengers. Its unique attributes include an antitorque rotor mounted on a high tailboom for safety and a set of aft-mounted clamshell cabin doors. UH145 production will move from Germany to the United States as part of the deal which is the first major win for EADS as a prime contractor for the US military. Read More

New CH-47F Chinook helicopter unveiled

By Mike Hanlon

June 16, 2006 The first production CH-47F Chinook helicopter was unveiled to the U.S. Army during a rollout ceremony in Ridley Park, Pa. The aircraft is the first of 452 new CH-47F heavy-transport helicopters included in the U.S. Army Cargo Helicopter modernization program. The aircraft features a newly designed, modernized airframe and a Rockwell Collins Common Avionics Architecture System advanced digital cockpit to meet the needs of current and future warfighters. Powered by two 4,868-horsepower Honeywell engines, the new CH-47F can reach speeds greater than 175 mph and transport payloads weighing more than 21,000 lbs. The CH-47F, with the Robertson Aviation Extended Range Fuel System, has a mission radius greater than 400 miles. Read More

ScanEagle UAV demonstrates maritime capabilities

By Mike Hanlon

May 18, 2006 Last year we wrote about the ScanEagle UAV and its success in supplying U.S. Marines in Iraq with critical real-time tactical battlefield imagery. This time, we’re writing about the adaptation of the ScanEagle as a low-cost intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platform for amphibious operations. Currently being trialled for its maritime capabilities by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) in "Trial Vigilant Viper" off the coast of Scotland, the ScanEagle completed ten autonomous flights with full launch and recovery from a Type 23 Frigate in rough sea conditions. A small UAV such as the ScanEagle can significantly increase the capability of a boat, and the missions conducted during the trial illustrate this enormous potential for land and sea surveillance, beach reconnaissance, force protection, maritime interdiction and naval gunfire support. Read More

The first fully electronic helicopter fly-by-wire system

By Mike Hanlon

May 5, 2006 As part of its Helicopter Electro Actuation Technology (HEAT) program for the U.K. Royal Navy’s EH101 Merlin helicopter fleet, AgustaWestland has awarded a US$32 million contract to BAE Systems for the development of the digital flight control computer. The new HEAT system will replace older, more complex hydraulic systems and will be the first electromechanical fly-by-wire system installed on a helicopter. It will reduce pilot workload, cost of ownership, maintenance, and weight while improving survivability, safety, and aircraft handling and agility. Read More

SkyTote - the VTOL UAV that transitions into horizontal flight

By Mike Hanlon

April 8, 2006 One of the greatest difficulties with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is that they invariably don’t have high speed as one of their attributes. The principles are well explained in our article about the Cartercopter, and it’s one of the prime reasons the US military has persisted with the V-22 Osprey. There has been much emphasis on the development of new unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) in recent times, and development imperatives have often been torn between the various needs for UAVs that can quickly move from target to target yet loiter as a fixed and stable platform, all the while operating with no launch and retrieval infrastructure. One of the planet's most innovative companies, Aerovironment, has proposed an innovative configuration known as the Skytote to meet all of these needs. The SkyTote is a novel UAV using dual counter rotating propellers that will take off and land vertically like a helicopter, but also transition into horizontal flight like a conventional aircraft for efficient point-to-point operation. This complex vehicle uses an intricate drive system to allow helicopter operations with cyclic and collective control, as well as blade pitch control, combined with normal aircraft control surfaces in conventional flight operations Read More

Weaponised, man-transportable Micro UAVs

By Mike Hanlon

March 14, 2006) Military conflict over the millennia has been defined largely by the technologies available – the spear, the sword, the horse, gunpowder, rifles, cannons, motorised transport, tanks, the anti-tank and anti-personnel mine, aircraft, rockets and so on. One of the coming capabilities capable of offering a massive advantage in warfare involves robots, sometimes guided and sometimes autonomous that walk, carry, roll, swim and fly. The first UAVs were used to improve situational awaereness and this has quickly evolved – now all but the smallest UAVs have been armed and found to be very effective at delivering precision firepower. The Tactical Aerospace Group (TAG) is about to reveal a new class of weaponised UAV that will be particularly useful for brigade level and down. Initially designed with the ability to be transported through a jungle environment for use in drug interdiction, the TAG UAVs can accompany spec-op teams, be carried over severe terrain and can be fitted with recoilless firearms, new technologies such as Metal Storm and up to 70mm rockets/missiles adapted from existing shoulder launched weapons. Read More

V-22 Osprey readies for combat

By Mike Hanlon

March 12, 2006 EXTENSIVE IMAGE LIBRARY It’s been a long road for the Osprey but the aircraft first conceived several decades ago as being uniquely suitable for a wide range of military applications is finally being readied for the battlefront. The first combat-configured CV-22 Osprey left Bell Helicopter in Texas earlier this month and can expected to see action in Iraq and Afghanistan within months, most likely in transporting special operations teams and their gear into and out of action. The Osprey CV-22 converts between airplane and helicopter modes and is twice as fast as any previous VTOL aircraft, but also has significantly enhanced survivability and five times the range, offering operational flexibility beyond its most obvious in delivering specialist military capability to the exact point it is required and retrieving it afterwards. Read More

Eagle Eye VTOL AUV First Flight

By Mike Hanlon

January 26, 2006 Bell Helicopter’s TR918 Eagle Eye Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) lifted off the ground for the first time yesterday, hovered for nine minutes, executed yaw and translation manoeuvres and then landed safely. It then undertook a second flight within 30 minutes of the maiden flight's landing. We have previously written about the TR918 here - the Eagle Eye uses the same tiltrotor system as a number of other Bell-Boeing VTOL designs, most notably the V-22 Osprey (Bell - Boeing)and the Quad TiltRotor. Read More

The Snark - the meanest VTOL UAV on the planet

By Mike Hanlon

October 29, 2005 Meet the Snark – an Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle of immense capability that demonstrates just how far the breed has come in such a short period of time. Constructed mainly of Carbon Fibre and Kevlar, the Snark is light and fast (280 km/h), quiet (special rotor blades make it extremely quiet ), virtually invisible to radar or infrared detetection (it recycles its exhaust gases and emits little heat) and can carry a payload of 680kg, offering the ability to pack both massive firepower (enough to sink a ship) and surveillance equipment (such as high res infrared cameras with a magnification of 7500). But wait, there’s more, and this is the clincher. The Snark is the first UAV that runs on diesel fuel, which means it can be easily integrated into any military force – current UAVs require their own special fuel supply to be transported with them whereas the entire US Army plans to run on a single one fuel - diesel. Last and probably most importantly, the Snark can stay airborne for 24 hours at a time, offering an unprecedented loiter time for a machine of this capability. Read More

Mobile helicopter landing and maintenance facility

By Mike Hanlon

October 15, 2005 Australia’s vast distances, harsh climate and isolated communities present major challenges for companies delivering vital services like electricity. To help in this environment, Brisbane-based Aeropower has developed a Volvo 380hp FM9 truck into a mobile helicopter landing and maintenance facility. Aeropower’s Volvo-based mobile facilities for its fleet of Hughes MD500 helicopters plays an essential role in the aerial survey and maintenance of high voltage power transmission lines by providing not only a safer, elevated landing platform for its helicopter crew, but also fuel, water and maintenance provisions to maximise operating efficiency in the field. Read More

Airscooter develops petrol and electric coaxial rotor UAVs

By Mike Hanlon

October 5, 2005 Innovative air vehicle developer AirScooter has featured in Gizmag previously with its AirScooter II, a vehicle we dubbed, “The Helicopter for the Home.” Things have been moving quickly for the company in recent times, with several patented and patent-pending aeronautical products being developed to employ coaxial rotor technology. These products include a high-performance AirScout 70” Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and an electric powered UAV, both targeted at the commercial and military markets. Read More

US$3.5 million Skycar goes on sale

By Mike Hanlon

October 3, 2005 Neiman Marcus, the specialty retailer renowned for its unique luxurious offerings,

never fails to make available some delectable big toys for big boys and girls when it unveils its annual Christmas Catalogue. In recent years we’ve seen the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book offer a Custom Designed Mermaid Suit, a Dodge 500hp Tomahawk motorcycle and even the first commercially-available Deep Flight Aviator, but the 79th Annual Christmas catalogue has exceeded all previous efforts by putting the M400 Moller Skycar Prototype on sale – it’ll set you back just US$3.5 million but what the heck! Other fantasy gifts for the person who dares to dream big included in the 2005 book include a His & Hers Photo Booth, an NM Edition Lexus GS 450h (in 2003, the limited edition BMW 645Ci sold out in seven minutes), a Dreamboat levitating sculpture with "no visible means of support," a Grand Empire Railroad, and a replica of the 2005 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race winning car with flat-screen monitor, IndyCar Series 2005 video game and all related electronics. Read More

Advanced Tandem Rotor Helicopter (ATRH) contract for JHL program

By Mike Hanlon

September 24, 2005 The U.S. Army has awarded a second contract to perform conceptual design and analysis of a vertical-takeoff-and-landing concept for the Joint Heavy Lift (JHL) program. One contract, worth US$3.4 million, goes to Boeing Phantom Works for its Advanced Tandem Rotor Helicopter (ATRH). Boeing proposed the ATRH in the Army's low-speed category, which is for vehicles that fly between 160 and 200 knots. As previously reported, the other contract, worth US$3.45 million, was awarded to the Bell Helicopter - Boeing Phantom Works team for the QuadTiltrotor (QTR) aircraft, which was entered in the high-speed category of 250 knots or more. The Boeing Advanced Tandem Rotor Helicopter exploits the system maturity, the extraordinary VTOL cargo-handling versatility and the unsurpassed maritime suitability of the tandem rotor platform, which uses two equally-sized rotors that spin in opposite directions for lift. Read More

Quad TiltRotor (QTR) aircraft development contract awarded

By Mike Hanlon

September 24, 2005 The team of Bell Helicopter and Boeing has been awarded a $3.45 million contract by the U.S. Army to perform conceptual design and analysis of its Quad TiltRotor (QTR) aircraft for the Joint Heavy Lift (JHL) Program. "The Bell Boeing team is exceptionally pleased to have been one of the teams chosen by the Joint Service Team to take the first step in providing a truly transformational vertical lift cargo aircraft," said Mike Redenbaugh, chief executive officer of Bell Helicopter. "The critical need for long range, high speed, heavy lift without access to runways is being highlighted around the world every day." Read More

Your own helicopter for under US$20,000

By Mike Hanlon

September 21, 2005 Flying is not a sport generally associated with those people who are light of wallet – which makes the Mosquito Ultralight helicopter something of a rarity. The entire kit for the Mosquito can be purchased for US$20,000 and if you think the minimalist Mosquito leaves you a bit vulnerable, there’s the fully enclosed Mosquito XE and XEL which can be purchased for US$23,000 apeice. Building the kits will cost you about 200 to 300 hours to build or you can have the plane built for you for a flat US$4000. Getting airborn for under US$20,000 in your own, new helicopter is quite a feat – we’re not aware of any other helicopter in this price category and on top of that, both Mosquito variants offer very low maintenance and operating costs. Read More

AH-64D Apache Longbow gets new Arrowhead system

By Mike Hanlon

September 19, 2005 Lockheed Martin has delivered the first eight Arrowhead systems for the U.S. Army's Modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/PNVS) program. The Arrowhead unit provides the most advanced electro-optical targeting and pilotage system available to AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter crews for maximizing safe flight in day, night and adverse-weather environments. Arrowhead continues a 23-year legacy of serving as the "eyes" of the Army's AH-64 Apache attack helicopter with the first fielding of the current TADS/PNVS in 1983. Arrowhead's newly designed FLIR sensors and avionics use leading-edge image processing techniques to give pilots the best possible resolution to avoid obstacles such as wires and tree limbs during low-level flight. Read More

BAE VTOL UAV impresses in autonomous tests

By Mike Hanlon

September 7, 2005 BAE Systems has achieved its first autonomous, untethered flight of its third-generation ducted-fan unmanned aerial vehicle. The company's vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) air vehicle completed a course of 10 waypoints at BAE Systems' Southern California flight test facility. The seven-minute flight of the IAV2 ducted-fan air vehicle demonstrated a pre-programmed flight plan that included automatic takeoff, waypoint navigation with multiple groundspeeds and altitudes, and loitering and automatic landing. The demonstration flight was achieved just 10 days after the air vehicle's first flight and was the 14th flight of the IAV2. Flights were conducted at temperatures of up to 109 degrees, equating to density altitudes approaching 7,000 feet, in winds of nearly 15 knots. Read More

The Walrus: the US Army contemplates building an aircraft the size of a football field

By Mike Hanlon

September 6, 2005 Moving an elephant atom by atom costs a lot more than moving the elephant in one pre-assembled lump. And that is what the US Army’s Project Walrus is about – putting together an entire action unit of war machinery, with all the wiring and plumbing preinstalled, and placing it in the most strategic place. Whilst this would completely rewrite the way that war is conducted, the Walrus - a massive lozenge-shaped blimp the size of a football field capable of transporting 500 tons at a time - could offer solutions to myriad peacetime problems, opening land-locked countries to trade, enabling heavy construction materials to be delivered into urban centres with minimum disruption, freeing our highways of high volume, heavy loads, offering a more robust and agile air transportation network capable of absorbing disruptions due to weather or attack. Indeed, business logistics could again be completely rethought and streamlined because many physical transportation limits would no longer apply once a fleet of commercial walruses became available. The walrus does not require an airstrip and can land on water or on open ground. Read More

Australian Army scores Bulls-Eye with first Hellfire II launched from a Eurocopter Tiger ARH

By Mike Hanlon

August 11, 2005 The Australian Army scored a first when it performed the first successful firing of a HELLFIRE II missile from Australia's Eurocopter Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopter (ARH), at the Woomera test range in Australia's southern desert earlier this week. The Tiger is the first non-U.S. platform to integrate the HELLFIRE II missile. The missile was equipped with an inert warhead and was launched in the lock-on-before-launch mode by a Eurocopter test pilot, targeting a simulated armored personnel carrier (APC) target six kilometers downrange. The target was designated by the launching ARH helicopter. The missile struck dead center, leaving a gaping hole in the target. The Hellfire II comes in four models: the high-explosive anti-tank missile, the blast fragmentation missile, the millimeter-wave radar Longbow missile and the thermobaric Hellfire missile. Watch the videos inside to understand the differences between each lethal variant. Read More

Next generation MH60-R submarine hunter and surface attack helicopter begins production

By Mike Hanlon

August 5, 2005 The first new production Sikorsky MH-60R took to the skies last week indicating the next phase of naval helicopter warfare is about to begin. The MH-60R is the next generation submarine hunter and surface attack helicopter and will replace the US fleet's legacy SH-60B and SH-60F aircraft. The Navy is expected to order as many as 254 MH-60R aircraft through 2015, with production quantities increasing to 30 aircraft per year. Read More

Bell Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH): Hunter AND Killer

By Mike Hanlon

August 2, 2005 Bell Helicopter last week was awarded a US$2.2 billion contract by the United States Army to build 368 of its next generation Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) between 2006 and 2013. The ARH will replace the Army’s OH-58D Kiowa Warrior Helicopter and it is a significant improvement being fast agile and able to stalk its prey like nothing else in the air. Indeed, there's nothing it can’t spot in any weather, day or night thanks to its FLIR system. Not only can it track its prey, it can also be proactive thanks to an array of weapons systems such as a 2,000rpm Gatling gun, 2.75 inch rockets, Hellfire missiles or as many as 38 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) tubes at one time. With room for two pilots and three passengers, the ARH has room for the smartest weapons of all. Finally, it thrives in adverse conditions with its high ballistic tolerance, crashworthiness and the latest aircraft survivability equipment. Bell’s ARH is a militarized version of its highly successful 407 single engine light helicopter – sometimes known as the “sports car of the air.” Capable of being equipped with a wide variety of weapons, the Bell ARH will provide the Army with exceptional mission versatility and with the flexibility to accomplish armed reconnaissance, light attack, troop insertion, and special operations missions with a single aircraft. Check out this video of the Bell ARH doing its thing. Read More

Fire Scout helicopter UAV successfully fires test rockets

By Mike Hanlon

July 27, 2005 -- Northrop Grumman Corporation's RQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned air vehicle (UAV) reached another important milestone this week when the UAV successfully fired two test rockets. This is the first successful live weapons fire from an autonomous unmanned helicopter. This event proves Fire Scout's ability to perform strike missions -- in addition to conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance -- and subsequently expands its capabilities. Read More

Fire Scout UAV struts its stuff

By Mike Hanlon

July 14, 2005 The most advanced vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) tactical unmanned air vehicle (UAV) in the World is the Northrop Grumman RQ-8A (AKA the Fire Scout) and the Fire Scout recently demonstrated its vast capabilities during a two-hour flight demonstration for this year's Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International's North American convention held in Baltimore. The capabilities of the RQ-8A and next generation RQ-8B which will offer greater endurance and payload capabilities, will be critical to the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS)'s mission to protect and monitor the shoreline, coastal waters and open seas. These will include Fire Scout's ability to deploy precision-guided munitions and to carry several new payloads for advanced communications, maritime and land-based surveillance, and mine detection. The RQ-8B VTOL UAV is pictured with the LCS at right and will also play a major role in the US Armed Forces Future Combat System (FCS) Read More

Schiebel next-generation UAV Camcopter

By Mike Hanlon

March 23, 2005 Looking for all the world like a flying shark, Schiebel's next-generation Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Camcopter S-100 was shown for the first time at the recent International Defence Expo. The Camcopter S-100 is a medium -range, medium endurance VTOL UAV system designed to provide a unique balance between advanced capabilities and operation in tactical environments. The remarkable potential in both civilian and military applications for unmanned autonomous helicopters was previously detailed in our Yamaha RMAX UAV story, though the Schiebel Camcopter's focus is primarily military. Read More

George's new helicopter ... US101

By Mike Hanlon

January 29, 2005 George W is updating the fleet all round it seems. Just a few days ago we saw the new presidential limousine, and now comes the news that a new Presidential helicopter has been selected to provide a safe and secure "Oval Office in the Sky." Unlike Cadillac One, the selection process for the Presidential helicopter has been ongoing for some time. The fleet of helicopters currently used by the president includes 30-year old aircraft that were designed in the sixties, fielded in the seventies and no longer has the growth capability to incorporate the equipment necessary to provide suitable presidential support in the post 9-11 environment. Read More