With a wingspan of 400 feet, the Vulture will be the largest unmanned aircraft ever flown in the world, but for New Mexico State University’s Physical Science Laboratory it’s only the latest in a long string of groundbreaking projects PSL has been working on for decades.
On September 30, NMSU announced that PSL had entered a multi-million-dollar contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to assist in the development and flight-testing of the Vulture unmanned aircraft, the prime contractor of which is Boeing. Along with its 400-foot wingspan, the Vulture II will weigh between 5,000 and 7,000 pounds — light by other aircraft standards.
“This is our first contract with DARPA,” said Steve Hottman, Associate Dean and Deputy Director for Research at PSL. “To be able to be in a relationship with DARPA is very important for the university. When you think of what they are trying to design and a platform that can remain up in the atmosphere for five years, that’s a lot of design challenges and it’s pretty exciting stuff.”
If successful, the Vulture programme could perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and communication missions. The aircraft will be fueled by solar cells and an energy storage system that utilizes hydrogen. The craft will be designed and built by Boeing.
“The primary thing we will be doing is acting as a test location for DARPA,” Hottman said. “In addition to that we are giving guidance to Boeing and DARPA about design aspects of the aircraft related to airworthiness and communications links. We’re actually responsible for the airborne safety and the ground safety.”
Ground safety will be especially important, as the craft will be utilizing hydrogen. PSL will be responsible for ensuring personnel are trained to detect and deal with any hydrogen leaks.
While Boeing is constructing the mammoth Vulture, PSL will be building a hangar and a runway at the Jornada Experimental Range, northeast of Las Cruces, to accommodate the craft. The aircraft will require a 3,000-foot diameter circle for level takeoffs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture owns the land where the hangar and airport will be built, and Dave May, deputy director of Global UAS Strategic Initiatives for PSL, credits NMSU’s good relationship with the agency for getting permission to use the property. PSL has helped the USDA in the operations of its own unmanned aircraft.
Construction of the hangar will be in 2013. Boeing then will transport the Vulture in sections to Jornada for assembly. PSL’s involvement in the project will continue into 2014, when flight-testing is expected to end.
“We’re working very closely with the design team at Boeing and DARPA, as well as NASA,” May said. “A lot of our expertise is really knowing what is going to be acceptable to the FAA; being able to say, ‘Here’s a concern for us.’”
Along with its expertise with Federal Aviation Administration regulations, two other major factors played a role in PSL landing the Vulture contract.
“One of the reasons they picked us was cost,” Hottman said. “We’re a better value for DARPA. There were some tremendous cuts (to the program), so they were looking at where they could do things more cost effectively.”
The third deciding factor is NMSU’s operation of the only FAA-authorized UAS Flight Test Center in the United States. The center allows UAS operations in the National Airspace System or civilian airspace. Data is collected during unmanned flights in public, non-restricted airspace to assist FAA in the development of standards and regulations for UAS operators. Under the FAA agreement, the Flight Test Center can operate flights across more than 15,000 square miles of airspace in southwestern New Mexico.
May said he expects PSL’s involvement in the Vulture programme to not only increase the department members’ expertise, but also continue the upward momentum of NMSU’s reputation in the unmanned aircraft field.
“Anytime you have an ongoing operation you’re getting valuable experience; you’re getting your name out there and people are saying, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve read about that programme.’ Success breeds success,” May said.
NMSU/PSL also owns six unmanned aircraft manufactured in Israel, and department members have spoken at conferences across the world. PSL currently is working with the governments of the Netherlands and England, as well as NASA and the Defense Department, to create a system to deal with wayward unmanned aircraft systems.
Source: New Mexico State University