Our ultimate customer is the US military warfighter. The path to delivering solutions to the warfighter involves many other customers and Government agencies who we work diligently to meet, understand their needs, and deliver value. The Government agencies that have contracted with us are discussed in this section.
Our first contract was awarded in 2003 by the Office of Naval Research - Industrial and Corporate Programs Department [Code 36]. This department was responsible for Sea-Based Logistics solutions (i.e. moving supplies from deep water ships to an inland expeditionary brigade). The Navy leader of this department saw merit in our proposed solution and awarded us a study contract to compare the Mono Tiltrotor to legacy rotorcraft concepts for this logistics mission. The study was performed by academic authorities in the rotorcraft field and they found that a Mono Ttiltrotor would be half the size, 1/3rd the weight, and burn 1/3rd the fuel of legacy rotorcraft concepts for a 1000 nautical mile mission while cruising at approximately twice the true air speed.
Our next contract was awarded in 2005 by the Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate. This directorate is responsible for initiating the development of advanced rotorcraft systems. The purpose of this contract was to advance the understanding of the Mono Tiltrotor. Under a first task order a Mono Tiltrotor aircraft was designed specifically for the purpose of transporting a 3000 pound gross payload weight Joint Modular Intermodal Container. This task order resulted in a 9400 pound gross weight vehicle design that was consistent with the conclusions of breakthrough performance predicted in the original Navy concept study, and included a rotary wing drive system preliminary design and the layout of all major subsystems.
In 2007 the Army awarded us a subsequent task order to demonstrate and validate the Mono Tiltrotor design. Under this contract we hired independent authorities to assess and validate all aspects of the 9400 pound gross weight design, and indeed all assessed predictions were independently validated. We also hired rapid prototyping experts to built and perform functional demonstrations of all key features. These demonstrations were performed using highly modified, off-the-shelf, remote control helicopters.
We anticipate a new contract award from the Office of Naval Research in the second half of 2009. The objective of this contract is expected to be further refinement of the 9400 pound gross weight design for an emerging Cargo Unmanned Aircraft System operational need.
| Next > |
|---|
