UV Online
AUSA Winter 2010: A160 production line to start humming
The first production A160T Hummingbird UAV will roll off Boeing’s Mesa, Arizona, line in August as the company looks to secure a service launch customer.
Speaking to UVOnline.com at the AUSA Winter exhibition in Fort Lauderdale, Daniel Page, director of A160 business development for Boeing Unmanned Airborne Systems, said it was ‘an interesting year’ for the programme as it moves out from under the auspices of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
‘In the last six months it seems there has been a real explosion in demand for the A160. So we are really at that transition point of moving out of the R&D phase to meeting the demands of the service customers,’ Page said.
Although not yet under a full production contract, the company plans to move into low-rate initial production of the system and is confident that ongoing tests of the system will result in its adoption.
At the beginning of March the US Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate will put an A160T Hummingbird through its paces as part of envelope expansion work at the army proving ground in Dugway, Utah, in conjunction with the US Marine Corps.
Page said the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAV would demonstrate its cargo carrying capability as part of the set-piece mission, demonstrating the autonomous combat resupply of troops.
‘It will be required to carry 1500 pounds, hover out of ground effect, autonomously fly well beyond line-of-sight and at the landing zone a marine with an LCD video terminal will be able to bring it in, release the cargo and then command the A160 to return to base.’
The company is also hoping to the Hummingbird will prove successful with the US Navy, where it is in competition with the Kaman/Lockheed Martin Unmanned K-Max.
Boeing claims the Hummingbird is capable of endurance greater than 20 hours, has a payload capability of 2500 pounds and a range of 2250 nautical miles.
By Tony Skinner, Fort Lauderdale
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