Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC
Millennium Jet has received $5 million from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop for the US military a prototype one-man vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) air vehicle for flight testing.
The funding will support Millennium Jet's development of the SoloTrek XFV Exo-Skeletor Flying Vehicle for military and civil markets. Although the contract represents the first government research funding, NASA last year provided technical support for initial windtunnel testing at the Ames Research Center, California.
DARPA's award is the first under its Exoskeleton for Human Performance Augmentation programme. Additional contracts are planned to investigate technologies that could enhance the mobility, strength or endurance of soldiers on the battlefield. The company believes its first customers will be the armed forces, but non-military applications are expected to follow.
Michael Moshier, the firm's founder and chief executive, says the strap-on ultra-compact aircraft will be able to hover for up to 3h, fly at up to 70kt (130km/h) and cover 150nm (278km). It will be powered by a four-cylinder piston engine driving two counter-rotating ducted fans.
Moshier says a SoloTrek ducted fan completed a series of NASA windtunnel tests in November. High-power static thrust tests are due early this year during which a tethered, instrumented prototype will be used to confirm that the ducted fans produce the required thrust smoothly at the predicted engine power. It will also prove the powertrain, including gearbox cooling and control forces.
If successful, tethered hovering will follow around June and free hover tests before the year's end.
Millennium Jet plans to deliver a prototype to US special forces for testing in about three years but does not know what a production model might cost. Civil certification issues have not been addressed.
Millennium Jet is seeking NASA funding for a larger, passenger carrying DuoTrek development.
Source: Flight International