Uncrewed rotorcraft take
centre stage
After
years on the periphery of the uncrewed revolution in military aviation, unmanned
rotorcraft are now becoming a significant focus for vertical lift
manufacturers.
At the
annual Association of the US Army conference in Washington, DC this week,
Boeing and Sikorsky both unveiled new designs for frontline rotorcraft meant to
operate without any onboard crew.
Boeing
debuted its Collaborative Transformational Rotorcraft concept – a modular,
autonomous tiltrotor that could fill both combat and logistics support roles.
The project is still in the design phase, but Boeing hopes to quickly progress
to a functioning aircraft.
Source: Boeing
Boeing envisions a
“collaborative combat rotorcraft” unmanned tiltrotor that will support
conventional helicopters
Sikorsky
meanwhile unveiled a demonstrator for its first autonomous-only Black Hawk
derivative – a heavily modified UH-60L dubbed the S-70 U-Hawk that replaces the
cockpit with a roll-on/roll-off cargo compartment.
That
offering comes as Sikorsky is simultaneously working to a mature its new
rotor-blown wing concept called Nomad. The company envisions that
hybrid-electric tail sitter as a multi-role vertical take-off and landing asset
that will come in a range of sizes offering various battlefield
capabilities.
A
sub-scale Nomad demonstrator is already in flight testing, with a full-scale
version currently moving through ground testing.
The surge
in activity comes after years of minimal development in the space.
Although
Northrop Grumman developed the MQ-8C Fire Scout uncrewed helicopter to the US
Navy, the service moved to retired the type in 2024.
Israeli
firm Steadicopter has a number of offerings in the rotary UAS category, but has
thus far seen minimal adoption outside its home country.
The
pivot toward uncrewed systems by vertical lift heavyweights like Sikorsky and
Boeing comes as the US Army is seeking to reorient its aviation strategy away
toward a focus on using uncrewed assets at the frontline; an acknowledgement of
the deep survivability challenges facing combat rotorcraft.
Airbus
Space & Defence is also working to add an autonomous helicopter to its
inventory, with the company’s US wing adapting the UH-72/H145 for uncrewed
cargo operations under a US Marine Corps programme.
Although
the USA and its overseas allies still plan to fly large numbers of conventional
rotorcraft from Sikorsky, Boeing, Airbus, and Bell for decades to come, a shift
toward uncrewed vertical lift is now getting underway.
While it
will likely be many years before troops are ferried to an objective by an
autonomous aircraft, functions like ISR, logistics support, electronic warfare
and lethal strike are prime targets for new uncrewed rotary-wing platforms,
just as they have been for fixed-wing UAS.
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Boeing Unveils Concept for Army Unmanned Tiltrotor Aircraft Amid Military Push for DronesBoeing is designing a tiltrotor drone wingman concept to support the Army’s helicopter fleet, similar to the Air Force’s push for collaborative combat aircraft. ----oooo00O00oooo---- |
AeroVironment Unveils Next Generation of Switchblade Loitering Munitions
–
AeroVironment, Inc., a leading global provider of loitering munition
systems, announced the expansion of its combat-proven Switchblade
family of precision loitering munitions with three new systems: the
Switchblade 600 Block 2, the Switchblade 400, and the Switchblade 300
Block 20 equipped with a modular explosively formed penetrator (EFP)
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UK Seeks Strike and Refuelling Drone for Aircraft Carriers
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The
UK’s Ministry of Defence has published a preliminary market engagement
notice under Project VANQUISH, seeking industry views on a new “Fixed
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STOL ACP) for Royal Navy carriers. The Find a Tender listing describes
the effort as a technical demonstration intended to inform future
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Ukrainian Solution to Fiber-Optic Drones
By The Editor on Oct 14, 2025 06:30 am
The Ukrainian military has begun deploying special engineering barriers to prevent fiber-optic drones from flying behind the front line. The idea behind the simple engineering design, which consists of a stretched barbed wire, is to break the fiber-optic cable that gets on it by rotating the barb around its axis. This solution can be effective […]
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Ukraine and Netherlands will Co-Produce Drones – Volodymyr Zelenskyy
By The Editor on Oct 14, 2025 06:08 am
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with the Minister of Defence of the Netherlands, Ruben Brekelmans. Following the meeting, the Defence Ministers of both countries signed the Memorandum of Understanding concerning the Co-Production of drones. The Head of State thanked the Government, the Prime Minister, and the people of the Netherlands for their […]
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Derfor vil ikke Ukraina lagre vestlige droner
Sjekk saken her: https://tinyurl.com/yc4pbz8r
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