(NSI News Source Info) April 11, 2009: The Marine Corps wants a purpose-built unmanned cargo helicopter to re-supply its troops at isolated bases in Afghanistan, possibly within the year, a top requirements officer said Wednesday.
The future K-MAX Unmanned Multi-Mission Helicopter is a highly capable umanned aerial vehicle based on the K-MAX heavy-lift helicopter. The unmanned K-MAX helicopter delivers unprecedented potential for battlefield sustainment and increased tactical mobility due to its significant robotic vertical lift capability for cargo load bearing, sensor, and communications packages, plus future missions such as non-standard casualty evacuation and as a combat weapons platform.
The cargo helo would carry between 500 pounds and 1,000 pounds worth of food, water, ammunition and other staples, protecting human pilots from anti-aircraft fire and ground convoys from roadside bombs, said Brig. Gen. Andrew O’Donnell, capabilities development director for Marine Corps Combat Development Command.
“There’s lots of switchbacks, lots of danger on the roads of Afghanistan,” O’Donnell said. Having an unmanned cargo robot could take “hundreds, or even thousands” of Marines off the roads, he said, lessening the danger that they’ll encounter ambushes or roadside bomb attacks.
O’Donnell spoke at a convention of the American Society of Naval Engineers outside Washington, D.C.; he told Marine Corps Times after his speech that several companies – and the Army — had expressed interest in the cargo helicopter. He said Marine Corps officials hoped they’d be able to field the helo in Afghanistan within the next two or three years, although he said it might be possible to have one as soon as a year from now.
He also said it wouldn’t surprise him if Taliban fighters in Afghanistan began firing more surface-to-air missiles at U.S. helicopters as more troops arrive in the coming years, as Iraqi insurgents did before the U.S. “surge.” If that is the case, using unmanned re-supply helicopters would take human pilots out of danger, as well as the Marines and allied troops in convoys, O’Donnell said.
The future K-MAX Unmanned Multi-Mission Helicopter is a highly capable umanned aerial vehicle based on the K-MAX heavy-lift helicopter. The unmanned K-MAX helicopter delivers unprecedented potential for battlefield sustainment and increased tactical mobility due to its significant robotic vertical lift capability for cargo load bearing, sensor, and communications packages, plus future missions such as non-standard casualty evacuation and as a combat weapons platform.
The cargo helo would carry between 500 pounds and 1,000 pounds worth of food, water, ammunition and other staples, protecting human pilots from anti-aircraft fire and ground convoys from roadside bombs, said Brig. Gen. Andrew O’Donnell, capabilities development director for Marine Corps Combat Development Command.
“There’s lots of switchbacks, lots of danger on the roads of Afghanistan,” O’Donnell said. Having an unmanned cargo robot could take “hundreds, or even thousands” of Marines off the roads, he said, lessening the danger that they’ll encounter ambushes or roadside bomb attacks.
O’Donnell spoke at a convention of the American Society of Naval Engineers outside Washington, D.C.; he told Marine Corps Times after his speech that several companies – and the Army — had expressed interest in the cargo helicopter. He said Marine Corps officials hoped they’d be able to field the helo in Afghanistan within the next two or three years, although he said it might be possible to have one as soon as a year from now.
He also said it wouldn’t surprise him if Taliban fighters in Afghanistan began firing more surface-to-air missiles at U.S. helicopters as more troops arrive in the coming years, as Iraqi insurgents did before the U.S. “surge.” If that is the case, using unmanned re-supply helicopters would take human pilots out of danger, as well as the Marines and allied troops in convoys, O’Donnell said.
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