Kaman and Lockheed Martin (Team K-Max) have demonstrated the ability of an unmanned Kaman K-Max to fly troop cargo re-supply missions autonomously and remotely via line-of-sight and satellite-based line-of-sight datalink. The tests
were performed at the U.S. Army’s Dugway, Utah proving grounds under subfreezing weather conditions designed to mimic those likely to be encountered under combat conditions at forward bases in Afghanistan. The test was funded by the Marine Corps. “We met or exceeded the requirements within the scheduled three-day time frame of the demonstration,” said Dan Spoor, aviation systems vice president at Lockheed Martin’s mission systems sensors facility in Owego, N.Y. “The system performed a rigorous set of cargo resupply scenarios as programmed, allowing the ground-based operator to monitor progress and make adjustments to aircraft positioning only when requested by the Marine Corps for demonstration purposes.”
Demonstrated performance included hovering at 12,000 feet with a 1,500-pound sling load; delivering 3,000 pounds of cargo to a forward operating base within the six-hour required time frame, consisting of two 150-nm round-trip flights; remotely controlling the flight and a precision load delivery by a ground-based operator in both day and night conditions; and uploading a new mission plan to the aircraft’s mission management system during flight.
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