The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) has begun developing a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned air vehicle without the assistance of Bell Helicopter.
KARI unveiled at the Seoul air show a mock-up of its Smart tiltrotor UAV, which looks like the Bell TR-911 Eagle Eye. KARI and Bell discussed partnering on the programme two years ago and potentially co-developing an upgraded variant of the Eagle Eye (Flight International, 11-17 November 2003).
But preliminary talks failed to result in any agreement and KARI is now pursuing an independent design with first flight scheduled for early 2008.
“We hoped to co-operate with Bell, but they didn’t want to provide technology to us,” says KARI Smart UAV senior researcher Sung-Ho Chang. Bell chief executive Michael Redenbaugh says KARI and Bell conducted some joint studies on tiltrotor UAV technologies, but confirms there is currently no partnership and says Bell is instead focused on preparing the Eagle Eye for first flight.
“KARI did a full assessment of UAVs in this payload range and clearly decided tiltrotor technology is the optimum, something Bell has realised for a long time,” Redenbaugh says.
KARI launched its 10-year government-funded smart UAV research and development programme in 2002 and evaluated several design concepts before selecting the tiltrotor.
Chang says the programme is in the critical design review phase. Fabrication of a prototype aircraft has begun and ground tests are to begin in the second half of 2006.
Source: Flight International
