Article Posted on : - Sep 07, 2011

Lockheed Martin-Kaman’s unmanned helicopter successfully completes Navy’s Quick Reaction Assessment.

YUMA, ARIZONA (BNS): A five-day Quick Reaction Assessment (QRA) of the unmanned K-MAX helicopters was successfully conducted for the US Navy’s Cargo Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) program.

“The autonomous flying K-MAX is designed to resupply Marines on the battlefield and in remote locations,” said Roger Il Grande, director of Airborne Systems at Lockheed Martin Mission Systems & Sensors.

“Through various scenarios during QRA, the unmanned K-MAX UAS performed extremely well, exceeding the cargo delivery objectives of the assessment,” he said.

The US Navy awarded Lockheed Martin a $45.8 million contract in December 2010 for unmanned K-MAX helicopters to perform in a US Marine Corps evaluation of unmanned cargo resupply.

In July, the unmanned K-MAX successfully completed Electromagnetic Environmental Effects (E3) testing at Pax River.

Kaman Helicopters designed the K-MAX platform and Lockheed Martin designed the helicopter’s mission management and control systems to provide the K-MAX with exceptional flight autonomy in remote environments and over long distances.