Engineering news
The two-year £8 million contract follows on from a phase 1 contract, in which Leonardo developed a prototype Rotary Wing Unmanned Air Vehicle (RUAV), dubbed the SW-4 ‘Solo’. The drone can fly with or without a pilot, and was tested in Wales in 2015 as well as in the Unmanned Warrior, an international demonstration of autonomous systems held in October 2016.
The drones can “take off and land without a runway, such as on ships,” Russell Geoff, a spokesperson at the Leonardo Helicopters Yeovil site, told PE. “The SW-4 Solo prototype will be used to test key areas of the technology so that the MoD can make a better assessment of how it can be utilised in the future”.
The RUAV version of the SW-4 can perform a number of roles, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and cargo re-supply.
When piloted, the helicopter can undertake manned activities such as transportation of personnel, surveillance and intervention. It can carry out “automatic mission execution and management,” according to Leonardo Helicopters, with full control from a ground control station. It also has automatic flight control, including engine start-up/shut-down, auto-takeoff/landing, and autorotation.
The two-year project will explore a range of issues associated with Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial systems (UAS), covering sensor technology, data processing, collision avoidance, smart antenna, bandwidth management and data dissemination and smart health and usage systems including actionable prognostics for autonomous systems.
The project will also explore power plants, propulsion and drive systems, heavy and alternative fuels, hybrid drives, energy storage, electric technologies and intelligent power management. It will help to outline concepts for future VTOL unmanned aerial systems for commercial and military applications - including regulatory development in restricted and congested airspace.
The project will not create additional jobs at the Yeovil site, says Geoff.
However, Heathcliffe Pettifer, regional officer at the Unite union, says that any new work, “particularly in new technology”, is welcomed by the workers on site.
“With appropriate investment in skills, research and design, this is potentially a foothold in a global market, providing design, build and maintenance facilities – however, in its self this this order and similar work is unlikely to secure the long-term future of the site,” Pettifer adds. “The real prize for Yeovil is primarily MoD contracts for work like the 50 Apache helicopters that were awarded to Boeing (USA), or packages of work from Boeing associated to these orders e.g. transmission or gearbox.”