K-MAX has already proven itself providing logistics support in Afghanistan and now the UAS has demonstrated its potential for fire-fighting.
Lockheed Martin, which builds K-MAX, told Unmanned Vehicles at Euronaval in October that it would carry out a fire dousing exercise and this went ahead on 18 November at Griffiss Air Force Base in New York.
The aircraft was fitted with a custom-made Bambi Bucket and successfully lifted and dropped more than 659l of water to extinguish a small fire in an oil drum on the base.
The exercise also proved the concept of Lockheed Martin’s ‘fire-seeking’ UAS called Indago