New Erickson Project is to Rebuild a Crane to Act as Pilotless Combat Logistic Helicopter

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Erickson plans to rebuild an S-64 Air-Crane to ferry bulk cargo and vehicles to US military troops in the field. This crane will integrate a new robotic flight control brain and there will be no pilot in the cockpit. For the last year, this company has put much effort into disassembling N179AC to come up with the first S-64F+.

Erickson is now pitching their invention to the military. The upgrade of S-64 is underway and the company wants to improve its ability in aircraft’s firefighting capability. More importantly, it will come in handy in nighttime operations, especially in mountainous terrain where heavy loads are required.

Erickson engineers are seeking ways to fly in perilous conditions. This technology is being developed by the company in collaboration with the US government.

According to the reports released to news outlets, the Marine Corps benefited from combat resupply when they used two Kaman K-Max helicopters to resupply ammunition and gear to frontline operating bases in Afghanistan. Now Erickson helicopter’s design of S-64+ has no cabin and will come in handy in ferrying a wide range of custom play loads, which include but are not limited to sling-loaded cargo and mobile medical units.

The army is currently conducting tests of Matrix on a modified UH-60A, and they are planning on flying it in the autonomous mode this year. The installation of Matrix will see S-64 move from Sikorsky’s in-house application and go back to the military as an autonomous cargo helicopter. Notably, even though the S-64s come in handy in back-end heavy-lift requirements, it is not suited for frontline combat. According to Baxter, S-64s are designed to bypass destroyed or closed ports to ferry goods to troops offshore.

The technology in this aircraft to fly point-to-point missions will free pilots of more demanding tasks and they will come in handy in frontline duties.

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