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When the Pentagon set out its Future Vertical Lift (FVL) strategy to develop a family of advanced rotorcraft to replace its fleets of helicopters originally designed in the 1960s and '70s, one goal was to engage non-traditional suppliers to bring more innovation into the sector.
With the inclusion of two startup companies among the four teams awarded contracts for the U.S. Army's Joint Multi-Role technology demonstration (JMR TD), the Defense Department has taken a step toward that goal. Bell Helicopter and a Sikorsky/Boeing team may still be the favorites to fly two high-speed rotorcraft demonstrators in 2017, but they face real competition from two relative unknowns.
AVX Aircraft had already declared its hand, previously unveiling the 230-kt. coaxial-rotor, ducted-fan compound helicopter it is designing for JMR. But Karem Aircraft was not confirmed as a contender until Oct. 2, when the Army announced the four cost-sharing technology investment agreements for the $217 million JMR TD Phase 1 flight demonstration.
On the military end, their site touts an eventual TR75 JHL design that grows to become slightly bigger than a C-130, with a 330+ knot/ Mach 0.65+ cruising speed and a maximum payload of up to 36 tons. Karem Aircraft says that TR75 was extensively analyzed during the JHL program’s 2005-2007 cooperative development agreement phase, leading to a strategic teaming with Lockheed Martin as a production partner during the 2007-2010 CDA-X program extension. If its touted statistics ever came true, it would offer near-A400M level performance, with vertical/ short takeoff capability and better cruise efficiency. That’s quite the stretch goal, but Lockheed Martin took it seriously enough to create a hedge against the potential threat to its C-130x franchise.
Technically, Karem’s proposal is a farther reach than AVX’s, and might be laughed out of the room if it came from another source. Founder Abe Karem is best known for kick-starting the American UAV revolution with a viable and inexpensive garage-built product called Amber, after the ruinously-expensive performance disaster that was Lockheed Martin’s MQM-105 Aquila. Along the way, General Atomics bought Karem, his firm, and his technology from Hughes. Karem’s work and technology morphed into the Gnat UAV, which served over Bosnia and then morphed into the famous MQ-1 Predator. His current firm, Karem Aircraft, developed optimum-speed rotor (OSR) technology, which saves fuel and fine-tunes performance by varying the rotor’s speed in response to weight, conditions, etc. That core technology was sold to Boeing to create the A160 Hummingbird Heli-UAV, but Karem was left free to develop the underlying technology in other ways. Karem hasn’t been known for his high opinion of large defense contractors and their performance, and JMR-FVL is shaping up as an excellent test of his belief in small staffs of very talented and motivated engineers. Can he beat the big contractors in an open competition?