SkyX Unveils New Design at #FIA18 SkyTwo
SkyX is at the 2018 Farnborough International Airshow – #FIA18 – one of the two biggest air shows on the planet. (The other is Le Bourget, and is held outside of Paris on alternating years.)
This show features all of the major aerospace players: Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin – and many more. (Plus, suppliers of virtually every device that goes into making a modern aircraft – from rivets and fasteners and composite materials to massive Rolls Royce jet engines – display their wares here.)
There’s also a growing number of UAS companies here – which is why it made perfect sense for SkyX to attend.
But we had a special reason for coming this year: To unveil the prototype of SkyTwo, our next-generation of UAS that will take SkyX to the next level.
It took a lot of hard work by a dedicated team back at SkyX headquarters.
SkyTwo looks very different. And it is. Although it is still a vertical take-off and landing vehicle that transitions to fixed-wing mode, it uses just two motors instead of the four on SkyOne (or the fiveon many other transitional VTOLs). That’s because we’re borrowing swash-plate technology from the world of helicopters.
That means our propellers have variable pitch, and SkyTwo requires just two motors. (Think of a Chinook helicopter, only with a fixed-wing as the fuselage.)
With only two motors we reduce the weight and drag of the aircraft. No longer are we carrying two additional motors for use only in the vertical and transition phases. We extend our range. We increase our payload. We push the envelope.
At the moment, this is a design prototype. But we’ve already done computer modelling and extensive calculations based on the new airfoil, weight, and anticipated current requirements.
The moment Farnborough is over, we’ll begin work on the real thing. We plan to be test flying by the fall – and anticipate SkyTwo will be market-ready by mid-2019.
