Contract to Support USAF Agile Drone Platform

Advanced Aircraft Company snagged a Direct-to-Phase II contract AFWERX for $1.25 million, allowing it to further develop its Hybrid Advanced Multirotor Unmanned Aircraft System (HAMR).

The HAMR concept is hoped to fulfill the USAF Agile Combat Employment concept, offering a flexible mission-ready package for a range of common USAF missions. The HAMR can be optimized for a variety of defense applications along the usual ISR profile, as the manufacturer highlights. It points to search & rescue, medical supply delivery, and perimeter security as common missions for their UAV, though experience back East will likely push them to add a little more lethality to its mission package as they go along with the contract.

In typical AFWERX fashion, both them and the Air Force Research Laboratory have "partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer process by accelerating the small business experience through faster proposal to award timelines, changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business and eliminating bureaucratic overhead by continually implementing process improvement changes in contract execution." In short, the program allows them to be a little leaner and quicker in the development process, going out to quick-pivoting, agile developers to solve the USAF's most pressing missions. It sports a fairly modular design for easy in-field upkeep, as well as a 12-lb payload with twin bays for a variety of loadouts. Those bays can be used for sensors, additional fuel, or air-droppable cargo as required - And probably some explosives someday too, though Advanced Aircraft Company is mum on that point.

“We are excited to continue the development and testing of HAMR with the support of the AFWERX program,” said Paul Allen, Chief Executive Officer of AAC. “This Direct-to-Phase II contract takes us one step further to providing our warfighters with an efficient and rugged uncrewed aircraft capable of conducting military support operations in austere environments. The Pivot to the Pacific is a massive focus for the US Department of Defense and we are proud to help our great nation in this endeavor.”

FMI: www.flyaac.com