Drones are becoming more and more common (literally) in all sectors, from the military to the recreational, scientific and even private sectors. But now they could be getting an update… if that’s how we can refer to a technology that is already 70 years old. The idea of tiltrope helicopters dates back to the late 1950s.but its time may have finally come.
Advances in materials and energy have greatly increased the efficiency of these types of ships: Better virtual models have made them more stable in flightAnd autonomous systems have made drones more useful in more situations, particularly where decision-makers are reluctant to deploy a human pilot.
Piasecki Aircraft Corporation announced that a drone had completed a pair of hover tests at its Essington, Pennsylvania, facility using tiltrotors designed to take off like a helicopter but fly with the efficiency of a conventional airplane.
The drone “achieved sustained hovering for a duration of approximately one minute before descending,” Piasecki said in a statement. A second one-minute flight with a U.S. Army Multi-Mission Mobile Module demonstrated “the ability of its triplex fly-by-wire flight control system to maintain a stable hover in multiple configurations and a dynamic terrestrial environment,” the statement said.
The effort grew out of DARPA’s decade-old Aerial Reconfigurable Integrated System (ARES) project, which aims to produce a drone or optionally manned aircraft that could carry about 1,500 kilos, or more than 40 percent of the gross takeoff weight of the aircraft.
“Many missions require dedicated vertical takeoff and landing (or VTOL) assets, but most ground units don’t have their own helicopters,” explains Ashish Bagai, DARPA’s program manager. “ARES would make organic, versatile VTOL capability available to many more individual units. Our goal is to provide a more efficient and efficient VTOL capability for the mission.” Flexible, terrain-independent transport that avoids ground threatswhich in turn supports accelerated, cost-effective operations and improves the probability of mission success.”
According to the statement, this drone would be used for cargo, evacuation of the wounded and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. It is a compact configuration with ability to use landing zones half the size which are typically required by helicopters of similar size, with equivalent flight performance.