Boeing UCAV (no not an armed job)

Boeing UCAV (no not an armed job)

Looking just like a HobbyKing Beer Lift challenge entry, Boeing is touting their Unmanned Cargo Air Vehicle. They might want to rethink that title as for years UCAV has meant unmanned combat air vehicle, anyhow.

From the video, it looks like they are running Ardupilot, NASA and Boeing can’t be wrong!

The secret sauce in this design is, of course, the batteries.

Boeing is accelerating breakthrough advancements in autonomous air travel.

It recently completed initial flight tests of an electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) unmanned cargo aerial vehicle (CAV) prototype. The innovative platform is designed to test and evolve Boeing’s autonomy technology for future aerospace vehicles.

In less than three months, Boeing engineers designed and built the CAV prototype, which stands four feet off the ground, measures 15 by 18 feet and weighs more than 700 pounds. It is outfitted with eight counter-rotating propeller blades and custom Boeing batteries that allow for vertical flight.

Researchers are transforming the remote control-operated CAV prototype into an autonomous aircraft capable of carrying up to 500 pounds. The technology opens up new possibilities for delivering time-sensitive and high-value goods, conducting autonomous missions in remote or dangerous environments, and other applications.

Gary Mortimer

Founder and Editor of sUAS News | Gary Mortimer has been a commercial balloon pilot for 25 years and also flies full-size helicopters. Prior to that, he made tea and coffee in air traffic control towers across the UK as a member of the Royal Air Force.