Posted on 03/21/2010 2:10:55 AM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
A year ago the U.S. Marine Corps began shopping for a UAV to deliver supplies, at least half a ton per trip, in order to get essential items (ammo, water, food) to combat troops in remote locations. The marines wanted the UAV in action within six months, but no one was able to come up with anything in time. Last month, the marines successfully tested a transport helicopter UAV. Some firms told the marines they were working on it, and one of these outfits, Kaman, modified its K-MAX manned helicopter to meet marine requirements. This month, another contender, Boeing, successfully met marine requirements as well, using its smaller A160T. The first to meet the requirement was the Kaman K-MAX. This is a 5.4 ton helicopter with a cruising speed of 148 kilometers an hour and an endurance of over six hours. It can carry up to 2.7 tons slung underneath. This made the K-MAX an ideal candidate for the marine resupply UAV. When tested, it was able to carry a 680 kg (1,500 pound) sling load to 12,000 feet (3,900 meters), and hover. It was able to deliver 2.7 tons of cargo, to a point 270 kilometers distant, within six hours (two round trips). The K-MAX UAV can also carry up to four separate sling loads (totaling 1,568 kg, or 3,450 pounds).
(Excerpt) Read more at strategypage.com ...
Its nice little helicopter.
Right now in Northern Afghanistan there are bases that receive their daily supplies via helicopter and this past winter there were stretches where the copters could not fly. Will these be better or worse?
This made me think of the Book I just finished by Ralph Peters, The War After Armageddon, which had a War with UAV’s. Good Read.
Will these UAVs be able to extricate wounded after the supplies are off loaded?
Damn good question.
WHy not use what they have now?
Mountainous terrain and enemy threats in Afghanistan have pushed the Air Force to develop a kite-like GPS-guided system to deliver cargo to deployed troops, a commander told a House panel on Thursday.
The Air Force has used pilot-controlled aircraft to drop a load of supplies that can guide itself to a specific location. But the Army Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center in Natick, Mass., has kicked off a program to use unmanned aerial vehicles to perform the same type of mission.
Air Force Gen. Duncan McNabb, commander of the U.S. Transportation Command, told a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee that the Joint Precision Airdrop System (JPADS) helped deliver more than 3 million pounds of cargo to troops working in rough terrain in Afghanistan in 2009.
JPADS uses an onboard GPS system to help guide a parafoil — a steerable canopy parachute — to deliver supplies that can weigh as much as 30,000 pounds, according to a briefing that Maj. Erin Staine-Pyne presented in 2009. The system has improved the accuracy of airdrops by 60 percent.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.