Fancraft: Extending the Reach of Aviation

Today there is a growing need to extend the reach of aviation into highly obstructed airspace such as urban environments. Urban Aeronautics is developing a new family of VTOL aircraft known as Fancraft that are the combined integration of state-of-the-art, proven technologies, together with a number of patented, aerodynamic innovations that are necessary in order to make internal rotors viable both technically and operationally. While the initial market for Fancraft is military unmanned vehicles, there seems to be potential for an extremely broad manned market – both Civil and Military. The main advantage of unmanned Fancraft is their ability to operate in environments that pose danger either from being obstructions rich, such as urban, mountainous or wooded terrain or those areas where enemy fire hazard is too intense to endanger manned VTOL operation. In environments where both exist, such as urban battle zones, the employment of unmanned Fancraft has the most advantage over any air vehicle. The AirMule Fancraft model, a prototype of which is presently in hover testing is the first of a family that will include the AirMule derived manned Centaur, as well as the larger, manned X-Hawk.