FutureFlight
U.S. Military Exploring eVTOL Solution to Resupplying Troops
The Pentagon is looking for help from private sector eVTOL aircraft developers to meet its needs for autonomous battleground lift capability.
Survice Engineering's TRV-150 system
Survice Engineering’s TRV-150 system, which is based on the Malloy Aeronautics tactical resupply vehicle drone platform.

The U.S. military is stepping up its efforts to enlist autonomous eVTOL aircraft for a variety of missions, especially those that would reduce risk to troops, such as moving cargo in combat zones. In early January, the U.S. Air Force issued a request for information to civil eVTOL developers in a bid to evaluate options for investing in the technology. For 2020 alone, the Pentagon has allocated almost $170 million to investigate options for what it calls unmanned logistic system-air (ULS-A) capability.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. forces have faced difficulty moving supplies, according to Carmine Borrelli, deputy head for logistics innovation with the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab. Valuable military aircraft often need to be kept in reserve for higher-priority missions, and even when they are used, high sustainment costs make re-supply an inefficient use for them.