Interesting article that published on Fox News, regarding the latest projects in the field of US Defense drones.
Black Hawk robotized
The US military is reviewing its famous Black Hawk helicopter, making it able to fly independently. The Piloted Black Hawk (OPBH) successfully completed its first test flight on 11 last March. The unmanned helicopter was able to take off and fly for very short distances in absolute autonomy. The helicopter drones could be used to transport goods, weapons or other supplies to the troops.
Black Knight Transformer
The Black Knight Transformer, is a so-called "multicopter", designed to land near the combat zones (but away from war zones), turn into a sort of ambulance, continue to the wounded soldier, load it into the aircraft and bring it back to base its original form. Its robust construction would allow it to operate in remote areas, in places difficult to reach by conventional ambulances.
VTOL X-Plane
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is interested in developing aircraft capable of taking off and landing vertically, as required in its VTOL X-Plane project. According to Darpa's directives, the VTOL X-Plane should have twice the maximum speed of the fastest existing helicopter. The first phase of the VTOL X-Plane project was awarded to the Aurora Flight Sciences Co. last March. First flight test scheduled for the end of 2017, beginning of 2018.
ARES
Few helicopters come to meet the needs of the troops in the field, considering that the latter is almost always improvised. The ARES project, led by the special division Skunk Works of Lockheed Martin, involves the construction of a small convertiplane aircraft, able to operate on any type of accidental terrain thanks to its tilting rotors with a high load capacity.
Franco Iacch
(in the images: Ares above, on the right a prototype of the Black Knight Transformer)
