MQ-72C Aerial Logistics Connector’s demonstrator for USMC, developed in a cooperation between Airbus and Shield AI, performed its first autonomous flight.
The MQ-72C Lakota Connector, being developed to provide logistics support in the USMC, as a development of the Army’s UH-72 Lakota helicopter, which in turn is based on Airbus H145, completed its first autonomous test flight using Shield AI’s Hivemind software.
Previously, Airbus performed a cargo bay loading test as a part of the development in order to confirm that the new bay, designed for an unmanned configuration to have a different arrangement that works as intended.
MQ-72C will replace the pilot cabin for more fuel volume to provide an increase in range and endurance to support long-range logistic support operations primarily. This will result in a radically different internal configuration despite the outlines being identical.
While the U.S. Army is the original operator of UH-72 in the utility role, its vision for an unmanned cargo helicopter covers the conversion of larger UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters with the MATRIX autonomous flight kit instead. MV-75 tiltrotor (V-280 Valor) recently selected in the FLRAA programme might also receive a similar treatment, considering the fact that it demonstrated unmanned flight capability before.
Author: Kaan Azman
Editor:Özgür Ekşi
