Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC
US DEPARTMENT of Defense moves to kill the Boeing Heliwing project have led to plans for a second unmanned-air- vehicle (UAV) demonstrator being at least put on hold by the manufacturer.
Boeing had decided to build a second demonstrator, but says that its change of heart stems from its need to look at data collected in flight testing, to determine whether further flights are required. The first Heliwing crashed in June.
Sources close to the project, however, have made it clear that Boeing's position results from a move by senior Pentagon officials to terminate the Heliwing programme.
In a memorandum on 7 July, to Vice Adm. W C Bowes, the acting assistant secretary of the navy, (research, development and acquisition), US Air Force Maj. Gen. Kenneth Israel, director of the defence airborne reconnaissance office, says that "with increasingly constrained budgets, it is time to re-assess where our scarce resources can best be utilised."
The Heliwing project, is run by Rear Adm. Barton Strong, the new head of the UAV joint project office. The decision was made to extend Heliwing research as part of the vertical-launch-and-recovery project. Informed sources say that Strong will register in a memorandum to Bowes his disagreement with the Heliwing opponents.
The Heliwing is a tail-sitter air vehicle, which includes a fixed wing and a pair of 2m-diameter counter-rotating propellers, coupled to a single Williams International turbine engine.
Source: Flight International
