The American company Kaman has introduced the Kargo drone, which will help the US Marine Corps to supply small units in hard-to-reach areas. According to Defense News, the device will be able to carry up to 454 kilograms and fly from 93 to 926 kilometers, depending on the weight of the transported cargo.
Today, the US army and Marines are dropping supplies to ground troops by parachute from transport aircraft. Parachute systems cannot plan for a significant distance, and units can be removed from each other. It is expensive and dangerous to deliver ammunition and provisions to each individual unit by transport plane.
The Marines have been considering drones as an alternative means of delivery for several years. For example, in 2017, they ordered from Yates Electrospace a family of disposable unmanned gliders capable of carrying loads weighing from 227 to 454 kilograms.
Kaman introduced the Kargo drone in September. The company designed it from scratch in nine months. It assumes that the device is suitable for supplying small marine units distributed in hard-to-reach places, such as island chains.
Kargo is a 7.4-meter-long and wide quadrocopter . It will fly at a maximum altitude of more than three thousand meters and reach a speed of up to 224 kilometers per hour. The drone weighing 607 kilograms will be able to carry up to 454 kilograms of payload. Its range will be 926 kilometers, but with a maximum load it will be able to fly only about 93 kilometers. The Kargo will be driven by a turbine engine with a capacity of 300 horsepower.
Kaman has already tested a semi-scale model of the drone, and by the end of the year it is going to start ground testing of a full-scale demonstrator. The latter should make its first flight at the beginning of next year.
In addition to Kargo, Kaman is also developing a heavy cargo drone for Marines. Her drone will be similar to her optionally manned K-Max synchropter, which we wrote about earlier.
Vasilisa Chernyavtseva