Companies to Demonstrate Autonomous Heavy-Lift VTOL

Near Earth Autonomy, Inc. and Kaman Corporation subsidiary Kaman Air Vehicles have been awarded a contract by the U.S. Army under which the two entities will demonstrate an unmanned, heavy-lift, Vertical Take-Off & Landing (VTOL) platform capable of moving loads in excess of eight-hundred-pounds over distances of at least one-hundred-miles.

The vehicle resultant, ostensibly, of the Near Earth-Kaman partnership will be plied to aerial resupply and troop transport and evacuation.

At present, U.S. Army resupply missions are dependent upon smaller Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and conventional, crewed aircraft. Though practical and effective under non-combat conditions, such machines imperil Army personnel operating in contested theaters.

Near Earth’s expertise in autonomous flight technology and Kaman’s proven facility with rotorcraft design and manufacture are compatible with the requirements of the U.S. Army’s Heavy-Lift VTOL-UAS program. The partnership into which the two companies have entered instantiates their shared commitment to advancing the capabilities of military UAS, while furthering the Department of Defense’s ongoing efforts to modernize U.S. military logistics operations.

As the enterprise’s prime contractor, Near Earth has been tasked with delivering the hardware and software by which the inchoate aircraft is to be rendered autonomous. Subject solution must be capable of providing mission-assurance through responsive autonomy, thereby enabling U.S. soldiers to focus on their respective primary missions rather than controlling the UAS. Autonomy features are to include navigation, obstacle detection, and manual-override systems. Essential components must be designed to function even in instances in which peripheral systems have malfunctioned.

The nascent UAS will be based on Kaman’s KARGO UAV, a purpose-built autonomous VTOL aircraft developed to meet the U.S. Army’s payload and endurance requirements while ensuring mission success in contested environments.

Designed and built in accordance with the U.S. Armed Forces future operating concepts, the KARGO UAV features a rugged design incorporating a common attachment system conducive to Resupply/Contested Logistics, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Electronic Warfare (EW), Communications Relay (CR), and Search and Rescue (SAR) operations.

Near Earth Autonomy CEO Sanjiv Singh stated: "The HVTOL UAS program partnership with Kaman enables us to broaden our current scope from developing an aerial resupply aircraft for the Marine Corps to creating an autonomous multi-mission aircraft that can autonomously address a wide variety of critical needs.”

Kaman general manager for the KARGO UAV program Romin Dasmalchi remarked: “Between Near Earth’s expertise in aerial autonomy and Kaman’s background in uncrewed logistics and rotorcraft manufacturing, we have the synergistic skills needed to develop a single aerial system that serves many different applications.”

Founded in 1945 by aerospace-engineer and guitarist Charles Kaman, the Kaman Corporation is an American manufacturer of world-renowned helicopters. In addition to gifting humankind with a number of iconic aircraft, Charles Kaman—by dint of experience gained through his company’s use of composite materials—created the famed, round-back, composite-bodied Ovation guitar.

The Kaman Corporation is best known for its K-MAX helicopter—a unique, heavy-lift machine featuring a distinctive, intermeshing main-rotor (synchropter) architecture. Designed and built for external cargo-carrying operations, the K-MAX is capable of hauling aloft payloads in excess of three tons—a remarkable feat for a single-engine rotorcraft with an empty weight of 5,145-pounds.

In October 2022, Kaman was selected by the U.S. Department of Defense to produce a UAS prototype for the United States Marine Corps. The proposed aircraft was to derive of Kaman’s KARGO Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), a purpose-built, autonomous, medium-lift logistics vehicle conceived of and built to operate in austere environments and carry payloads as heavy as eight-hundred pounds.

In the autumn of 2021, Kaman flew a scaled demonstrator of its KARGO UAV, the autonomy architecture of which was developed and delivered by Near Earth Autonomy.

Built with the Marines’ near-future operating concept in mind, Kaman’s KARGO UAV features a robust, compact form optimized for expeditionary deployments. The aircraft, by virtue of its dimensions, fits in a standard CONEX shipping container and can be unloaded from such and operated by as few as two Marines.

FMI: www.kaman.com