Check out this story from Paul Mcleary at Aviation Week. The juicy bit is below.
No Key West controversy.
No risk of losing the program.
Cheaper.
More versatile.
Direct delivery without having to go through another service.
Can team with reliable partners.
Awesome.
And you can bet the Army is keeping a close eye on the program. In August, the service awarded the Lockheed/Kaman team $47 million to continue work on the K-MAX program—testing was done this past fall at Ft. Benning—while wrapping up a larger study on a full range of unmanned cargo options.Now we know...or rather we can take a guess at what Army leadership is up to. Don't want to continue the C-27? Fine. We'll work with the Navy/Marines and get the aerial cargo carrier we need by the back door. Plus we'll use UAV's to do it.
The tests will help the service build a formal program of record for an unmanned vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability, a program which we already know Textron/AAI is very interested. Steve Reid, the company’s senior vp and general manager for unmanned systems says that the company has signed a license agreement with Carter Aviation for a manned, four-person rotary winged asset that Textron is working on turning into an unmanned asset that the company feels “would do the cargo mission that’s being talked about” quite nicely. The Navy has also been busy with other unmanned options, including awarding Northrop Grumman a contract in September to supply twenty-eight MQ-8C Fire Scout VTOL-UAS’s (based on Bell’s 407 helicopter airframe), which the company has touted for its cargo-lugging capabilities
No Key West controversy.
No risk of losing the program.
Cheaper.
More versatile.
Direct delivery without having to go through another service.
Can team with reliable partners.
Awesome.
.