Demonstrations have recently completed on a unique quadcopter developed by The Army Research Laboratory and industry partners.
The hover-bike capabilities were demonstrated to DoD officials at the Aberdeen Proving Ground laboratory earlier this month during a visit by Dr William Roper, Director of the Strategic Capabilities Office at the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
The joint tactical aerial resupply vehicle, or JTARV, has been developed to provide a possible supply chain to soldiers in the field, so they can order and receive supplies rapidly whilst in a frontline position.
With speeds of up to 60 mph, the future JTARV could have electric or hybrid propulsion and is designed to fly close to the ground.
“Anywhere on the battlefield, Soldiers can potentially get resupplied in less than 30 minutes,” said Tim Vong, Associate Chief of ARL’s Protection Division. He likened the concept to “Amazon on the battlefield.”
“We want to have options like that,” Vong said.
“We’re exploring increasing payload capacity to 800 pounds and extending the range up to 125 miles. We’re also looking to integrate advanced intelligent navigation and mission planning. We’re looking to end up with a modular, stable platform that can be used for even more dynamic and challenging missions.”
“The project is successful because we went from concept development to engineering evaluation in collaboration with all various government agencies and industry,” explained Ernesto Garcia Lopez, ARDEC.
“The demo we saw was a unique opportunity for us to show a seamless transition between one Army organisation and another Army organisation and having the industry along the whole time,” he said.
During the visit, Dr Roper highlighted the necessity for new technologies and innovations to be adaptable and suitable for use. He said he wants to: “see something that’s coming on the shelf, immediately identify the use, determine if it’s good enough for rock and roll, get it into the field, but in a way that allows us to keep one-upping it.”
Watch a video of the trial here.
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ARL JTARV quad copter The Army Research Laboratory
Post written by: Vicky Maggiani
Vicky has worked in media for over 25 years and has a wealth of experience in editing and creating copy for a variety of sectors.
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