Bell Helicopter and Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) are in talks to co-develop an upgraded variant of the TR-911 Eagle Eye tiltrotor unmanned air vehicle.
KARI, a government agency, has selected a tiltrotor as the preferred concept for its smart vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAV development project. KARI says it must work with Bell to develop a South Korean tiltrotor VTOL UAV because Bell is the only manufacturer that possesses the applicable technology.
KARI principal researcher Sam-Ok Koo says the agency aims to build in South Korea an Eagle Eye that is more autonomous and more reliable, with added collision and terrain avoidance capability. He says no UAV today has a full collision avoidance system. "We want them to help develop our system and share the benefits," Koo says.
Bell chief executive Michael Redenbaugh says: "We're in active discussions in developing a full-scale Eagle Eye demonstrator programme and welcome KARI's participation in such a programme." He adds that Bell is interested in making Eagle Eye more autonomous and adding terrain avoidance and three dimensional flight-control capabilities.
KARI and Bell began talking about a potential partnership this year after Bell completed a study for the agency on UAV design alternatives (Flight International, 29 July-4 August).
Source: Flight International
