Wednesday, February 19, 2014

DARPA's ARES Tilt Rotor Cargo Drone


Take the wing from a V-22 Osprey tiltrotor, mate it to the top of a septic tank and you’ll have something like the Pentagon’s proposed vertical-lift cargo drone.

The Aerial Reconfigurable Embedded System—ARES, for short—could become the strap-it-on aircraft of choice for delivering cargo and lifting out wounded troops.

That is, if the fringe-science Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency can get it to work. Tiltrotors are notoriously finicky.

ARES, engineered by Lockheed Martin’s famed Skunk Works lab, appears to consist of a flight module with a wing and two tilting ducted fans for lift and propulsion.

The wing would attach to a variety of cargo pods for hauling supplies, casualties and surveillance equipment. DARPA estimates the flight module could lift up to 3,000 pounds.

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