Concept could be adapted for air launches, but technical challenges remain for IAI and unnamed US partner
Israel Aircraft Industries’ (IAI) Malat division is planning to fly an inflatable-wing tactical unmanned air vehicle by the end of July and is carrying out preliminary design work on a 10t (22,000lb)-capacity cargo UAV for civil applications.
The inflatable wing UAV is being jointly developed with an undisclosed US partner. Shlomo Tsach, director of flight sciences at IAI Malat, says the concept may lend itself to development of a UAV designed for air launching, but this remains a technical challenge.
Wing inflation is achieved using stored compressed gas. Windtunnel testing of the deployment system has been completed, Tsach says. Unfurled, the wing has a span of 2.5m (8.2ft). The 2.3m-long fuselage supports a two stroke gasoline engine mounted in the tail with pusher propeller.
Maximum take-off weight for the demonstrator will be 50kg, including a nose-mounted 3kg electro-optical/infrared sensor.
Design work on the autonomous cargo aircraft is at an early stage, but Tsach says a market could develop asregulatory barriers to UAV operations in non-segregated airspace are resolved. Current twin-engine configurations for the unmanned logistics air vehicle have strong similarities to the IAI Arava cargo aircraft, but with extended fuselage and a high tailplane. Proposed wingspan is 29.4m, with the central fuselage 20.3m long. Overall length would be 24.9m. The forward fuselage would swing sideways to allow access to the freight hold.
Tsach says IAI’s work on fuel-cell-powered UAVs is continuing with emphasis on mini-UAV applications. “We are thinking about endurance of 4h and, later on, 8husing fuel cells developed for motorcycles,” says Tsach .
PETER LA FRANCHI/EILAT
Source: Flight International
