Urban Aeronautics, the Israeli company developing the X-Hawk air vehicle, has teamed with Bell Helicopter to expedite the programme. The X-Hawk is a vertical take-off and landing vehicle with a pair of contained rotors, writes Arie Egozi.
With a maximum take-off weight of 1,920kg (4,230lb), the one/two-seat X-Hawk will be powered by either a Pratt & Whitney Canada PW207D turboshaft or a Turbomeca Arrius 2B2. Bell and Urban say India’s Hindustan Aeronautics is a potential subcontractor when development is complete, but emphasise that no agreement is signed yet.
Urban says the X-Hawk will be the first air vehicle capable of generating pure rolling moments and pure lateral forces. Sideways movement will be achieved without the need to roll by controlling the direction of upper and lower vanes on the ducted rotors. Fore and aft movement will be achieved using two variable-pitch ducted propellers.The contained rotors and a fly-by-wire vane/flight control system will give the vehicle the capability to hover while in direct contact with a building’s wall, for example during a rescue mission, and will save weight, Urban says.
Source: Flight International
