STTR to Further Advance ASR Technology For UAM Efforts

Aviation Safety Resources has been awarded a United States Air Force contract. Via the AFWERX program, ASR  has been awarded a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I contract entitled “Advanced Extreme Rapid Deployment Emergency Whole Airframe Recovery Parachute System for Urban Air Mobility” which was submitted as part of FX20D-TCSO1.

Under the contract, ASR will team with the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR), part of Wichita State University located in Wichita, KS to support testing and research in support of the development of a whole aircraft recovery parachute system specifically for A/UAM.

This is a continuation of the leading-edge research and development effort underway by ASR which was awarded a previous AFWERX Phase 1 SBIR in December 2019. ASR has been developing next-generation recovery systems that offer critical lifesaving technology.

ASR’s president and CEO Larry Williams is the Principal Investigator for the project which includes NIAR. NIAR’s team is led by Dr. Gerardo Olivares and includes Luis Gomez and Chandresh Zinzuwadia. Through this effort, the team will engage further with industry partners to offer ASR solutions to address the recovery challenges associated with the emerging Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) and A/UAM markets. The primary goal of the Phase I project is to advance to the testing stage of ASRs safety technology, especially as it relates to the ability to recover the aircraft/vehicle with no forward speed (which would be encountered in VTOL).

“The Air Force is a vital partner for bringing our technologies to specific platform applications under varying conditions and situations,” said Williams.

The U.S. Air Force STTR/SBIR programs are designed to serve the technological needs of the Air Force and other commercial applications. These programs, together with the people who manage them, accomplish this as part of the Air Force's technology development efforts to identify and provide advanced, affordable, and integrated technologies that keep our Air Force and aviation the best in the world.

Williams commented, “We applaud the vision of the AFWERX team for their novel approach to the SBIR/STTR program, emphasizing R&D solutions applicable to the more than 300 VTOL vehicle designs currently under development. These programs provide guidance and deep technical insight which enables ASR to continue to find applications and platforms to use its lifesaving XRD, TriChute and Soteria product lines. The Air Force support for technology development will help to fill this unmet need for civilian and military applications.”

ASR will also participated in the AFWERX Accelerate Change! event December 7-11, 2020 (Aviation Safety Resources | Afwerx Challenge Virtual Tradeshow (afwerxshowcase.com). This inspiring virtual event featured the groundbreaking successes in 2020 and the amazing new partnership opportunities in 2021. Throughout the week AFWERX highlighted industry, investment, interagency, and international innovators, as well as those disrupters across the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force.

FMI: www.aviationsafetyresources.com