Bonus points would be awarded if the design could fit on a standard pallet, or run its own smart collision and threat avoidance systems.įrom 218 applicants, the AFWERX team has chosen 35 designs, which it has presented recently in an HSVTOL showcase. The challenge overview laid out some key wish-list items, including jet-like speed, airborne transition between hover and cruise modes, increased range and endurance, in-air refueling capability, and flexible payload capabilities. Hence the HSVTOL challenge, which seeks agile designs that can get people and cargo in and out of contested territory as fast as possible. High-speed helicopters are in development, using coaxial twin rotors on top, spinning in opposite directions to cancel out retreating blade stall, but they're going to be hideously complex as well – heck, helicopters are complex enough to start with – and they'll be lucky to keep up with an Osprey in a straight line. The famous tilt-rotor Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is a bit more sprightly, topping out at 305 knots (351 mph, 565 km/h) provided you keep it over 15,000 feet, but it's even more complex than a helicopter, and costs around US$75 million a piece. Its current VTOL aircraft get plenty of use thanks to their runway-free convenience and operational flexibility, but its most common helicopter, the Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk, is limited to a speed of 193 knots (222 mph, 357 km/h), due to retreating blade stall. It's not just to get sweet new gadgets into the field America's national security depends on a thriving commercial technology sector, and one of AFWERX's aims is to give US companies a leg-up on development where it's prudent.AFWERX put the call out in June for companies to make submissions on a new High-Speed VTOL (HSVTOL) challenge. AFWERX is a US Air Force program first announced in 2017, designed to encourage a culture of innovation in the service, both by promoting interesting ideas raised internally and by getting involved with the entrepreneurial tech sector to draw in and fast-track the best ideas in the civilian world as well.
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