UNMANNED TRANSPORT HELICOPTERS

The basic characteristics of unmanned transport helicopters such as take-off weight, rotor geometry, payload-range relationships, and direct operating costs are determined for payloads of 4, 10, 20 and 50 metric tons. The first three payloads are for single rotor configurations and the fourth is a 50-ton design with a two-rotor configuration. The concept of vehicle energy efficiency (specific range per unit weight of fuel consumed) has been introduced to enable comparison of different vehicles. A relative financial loss coefficient is defined to include the cost of survivability aspects of military unmanned helicopters. The technologies requiring additional development for unmanned transports, especially for cost reduction, are discussed.