Boeing A160 Hummingbird

Infobox Aircraft
name=A160 Hummingbird


caption=The A160 during ground runs at the Victorville, CA airport
type=UAV helicopter
national origin=United States
manufacturer=Boeing Advanced Systems
designer=
first flight=2002
introduced=
retired=
status=
primary user=
more users=
produced=
number built=
variants with their own articles=

The Boeing A160 Hummingbird is a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) helicopter. Its design incorporates many new technologies never before used in helicopters, allowing for greater endurance and altitude than any helicopter currently in operation.

The Hummingbird was initially developed by Frontier Aircraft. In May 2004, the company was acquired by Boeing [ [http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/archive/2004/december/ts_sf04.html Boeing Frontiers Online] ] and integrated into Boeing Phantom Works and then into the Advanced Systems group of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems.

The A160 is in development as of 2008, but test flights already demonstrate successively greater endurance, higher altitudes, more extensive autonomy, and greater payload. The program has ambitious goals of a 2500-mile range, 24-hour endurance, and 30,000 ft altitude. Flights are largely autonomous, with the aircraft making its own decisions about how to fly itself so as to meet certain objectives, rather than relying on real-time human control. Maximum speeds are over 140 knots. The aircraft is 35 feet from nose to tail and has a rotor diameter of 36 feet. [ [http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/hummingbird.html Boeing A160 Hummingbird] , designation-systems.net] Until recently it was powered by modified Subaru automotive engines, but newer versions fly with the Pratt & Whitney PW207D turboshaft. [ [http://www.avtoday.com/rw/commercial/observation/16848.html Turbine A160T Flies 8 Hr] , Rotor & Wing Magazine]

Design and development

Frontier Aircraft, and then Boeing, have carried out the A160 program as part of a series of contracts with DARPA, the US Army, and the US Navy. [ [http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/a160-hummingbird-boeings-variable-rotor-vtuav-03989/ A160 Hummingbird: Boeing’s Variable-Rotor VTUAV - Defense Industry Daily ] ] [ [http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/hummingbird.html Boeing A160 Hummingbird ] ]

In September 2003, DARPA awarded Frontier a $75 million contract for the design, development and testing of four A160s.

In May 2004, the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command awarded Syracuse Research Corp. a $13.3 million contract for the ultra high frequency, foliage penetrating, real-time moving target indicator/synthetic aperture radar for use in the A160.

The A160's rotor includes rotors whose stiffness and cross-section vary along their length. Their low loading and rigid, hingeless design allows for changing RPM (not just blade pitch as in conventional helicopters) to optimize efficiency at different speeds and altitudes. It is primarily because of these features that the Hummingbird can fly with less power - and thus use less fuel - than comparable helicopters.

In August 2005, Frontier Systems - by then a Boeing subsidiary - received a $50 million contract from the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division "to assess the military utility and affordability of a long-range VTOL UAV employing a wide variety of adaptable payloads".

In October 2007, DARPA awards Boeing a $6.3 million contract to deliver an A160T aircraft and modified pod for the Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance-Imaging System (ARGUS-IS) program.

In August 2008, the A160T began flight testing the DARPA FORESTER radar system.

Renegade UAV and Maverick UAV

Frontier Systems used a modified Robinson R22 helicopter to develop and test the flight control systems that would later be used to autonomously fly the Hummingbird. While the original aircraft was lost in an accident in 2000, unmanned R22s are still used by Boeing Phantom Works for flight-control software development.

March 2006 saw the completion of the Software Enabled Control program sponsored by DARPA. With the help of researchers from UC Berkeley, MIT, and Georgia Tech, Boeing developed the Renegade UAV, which "successfully executed a series of advanced maneuvers: flying optimal routes through a field of pop-up and already-known threats; flying low-level, terrain-hugging profiles to avoid detection; and determining safe landing zones by using vision-based algorithms to process landing site imagery and terrain height information", without real-time human input. [ [http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Boeing_Completes_Successful_Autonomous_Flight_Control_Technology_Program.html Boeing Completes Successful Autonomous Flight Control Technology Program ] ] [ [http://www.boeing.com/phantom/news/2005/q2/nr_050621a.html Boeing: Boeing Team Demonstrates Advanced Autonomous Flight Control for UAVs ] ]

Boeing's modified unmanned R22 is marketed as the Maverick UAV. Four are flown by the US Navy, carrying Wescam Electro-Optical/Infrared sensor system, possibly among other sensors. [ [http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/maverick.html Boeing Maverick ] ]

Software developed for these programs has been implemented into the A160.

Flight testing

The test program is being operated from the Southern California Logistics Airport near Victorville, California. ["Test flight program advances for Boeing A160 Hummingbird unmanned aircraft", "Aerotech News and Review", November 23, 2006]

The Hummingbird made its first flight in January 2002, [ [http://www.boeing.com/ids/advanced_systems/hummingbird.html Hummingbird page] , Boeing.] using a 4-cylinder Subaru engine. [ [http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2005/q4/nr_051202a.html Boeing: Boeing A160 Hummingbird Completes Flight Test ] ]

On September 20, 2004, the Hummingbird made its first flight since Boeing took over the program the previous May. [ [http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2004/q3/nr_040920a.html Boeing: A160 Hummingbird Resumes Flight Testing as Boeing UAV ] ]

In August 2005, the Hummingbird was flown around Victorville in a 1200-mile course at 60 knots and 4000 feet. This was probably the longest helicopter flight ever. [ [http://postmanpatel.blogspot.com/2005/09/uavs-they-should-be-code-named-icarus.html Postman Patel: UAV's, they should be code named ICARUS ] ] Unfortunately, a mechanical failure caused the helicopter to crash near the end of the flight. Flight testing continued some months later after the crash investigation was concluded.

On November 30, 2005, the aircraft successfully completed its first flight with a new 290 kW (390 hp) 6-cylinder gasoline-powered piston engine, hovering about the airfield for about half an hour. [ [http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2005/q4/nr_051202a.html "Boeing A160 Hummingbird Completes Flight Test"] ]

A follow-up turboshaft-powered version, the A160T, was first flown in June 2007 [ [http://www.boeing.com/news/feature/paris07/news/2007/q2/070618b_nr.html Boeing: Boeing Completes First Flight of A160T Hummingbird Unmanned Helicopter ] ] .

On September 27, 2007, the A160T was flown for 8 hours while carrying a 1000-pound payload. On October 12, the aircraft flew for 12 hours while carrying a 500-pound payload, simulating a multi-sensor military recon mission. This latter flight used up less than 60% of the Hummingbird's maximum fuel load. As the next step, Boeing plans on flying simulated missions where a 300-pound payload is carried for 18 hours. [ [http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2007/q4/071016a_pr.html Boeing: Boeing Logs 12-hour A160T Hummingbird Flight ] ]

On December 10, 2007, one of the A160T prototypes crashed during a flight test at Boeing Advanced Systems' test facility in Victorville. [ [http://www.aero-news.net/news/military.cfm?ContentBlockID=ca2c24c5-2ab8-4e24-bbd6-a365e79560cc&Dynamic=1 Aero-News Network: The Aviation and Aerospace World's Daily/Real-Time News and Information Service ] ] [ [http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/12/11/220218/boeing-a160t-hummingbird-uav-crashes.html Boeing A160T Hummingbird UAV crashes-11/12/2007-Washington DC-Flightglobal.com ] ] A Boeing investigation determined the incident was caused when sensor data stopped being updated to the flight computer. With the feedback loop for the control system effectively cut, the helicopter "departed controlled flight and impacted the ground at a near-vertical angle." Much of the foresnic evidence was burned in the post-crash fire. A number of potential areas that could have caused the software feedback update thread to stop were found, and those known problem areas have been addressed. Flight testing resumed on March 26, 2008. ["Rigid Rotors." "Aviation Week and Space Technology."March 31, 2008. pp.48-51.]

On May 9, 2008, at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, the A160T demonstrated its ability to hover out of ground effect (HOGE) at 15,000 feet to meet its DARPA milestone. It then surpassed the milestone during the same flight by repeating the HOGE at 20,000 feet altitude, which is among the highest rotorcraft hovers on record.Fact|date=August 2008 A week later starting the night of May 14, the A160T demonstrated its un-refueled endurance capabilities with an 18.7 hour flight, landing with over 90 minutes of fuel still on board. [ [http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2008/q2/080521c_nr.html Boeing Flies A160T Hummingbird Unmanned Rotorcraft for 18 Hours] ] It was the longest un-refueled flight of any rotorcraft, and the FAI is reviewing the record in anticipation of awarding Boeing the official UAV endurance record in the 500 to 2,500kg weight class. [ [http://records.fai.org/claims.asp?id=u FAI UAV World Records News accessed August 24, 2008] ]

pecifications

aerospecs
ref=
met or eng?=eng
crew=0
capacity=
length m=10.7
length ft=35
length in=0
span m=
span ft=
span in=
rot number=1
rot dia m=11
rot dia ft=36
rot dia in=0
height m=
height ft=
height in=
wing area sqm=
wing area sqft=
rot area sqm=
rot area sqft=
empty weight kg=1,134
empty weight lb=2,500
gross weight kg=2,948
gross weight lb=6,500
eng1 number=
eng1 type=
eng1 kw=
eng1 hp=
max speed kmh= 258+
max speed mph= 160+
cruise speed kmh=
cruise speed mph=
range km=
range miles=
endurance h=20+
endurance min=
ceiling m=6,100-9,150
ceiling ft=20,000-30,000
climb rate ms=
climb rate ftmin=
armament1=
armament2=
armament3=
armament4=
armament5=
armament6=

ee also

* Unmanned aerial vehicle
* MQ-8 Fire Scout
* Boeing X-45

References

External links

* [http://www.boeing.com/ids/advanced_systems/hummingbird.html A160 page on Boeing.com]
* [http://www.darpa.mil/tto/Programs/A160.htm A160 page on DARPA.mil]
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/systems/a160.htm A160 page on GlobalSecurity.org]
* [http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/a160-hummingbird-boeings-variable-rotor-vtuav-03989/ Chronology of A160 contract awards, flights, and modifications, with images]
* [http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2005/q4/nr_051202a.html "Boeing A160 Hummingbird Completes Flight Test]
* [http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2007/q2/070618b_nr.html "Boeing Completes First Flight of A160T Hummingbird Unmanned Helicopter"] , Boeing.
* [http://boeingnews.web.boeing.com/archive/09_07/091407/070914p_hum_p2.html "August test flight of A160T Hummingbird a program milestone"] , Boeing.
* [http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/03/06/222007/darpa-works-to-return-boeing-a160t-to-flight-to-complete-demonstration.html "DARPA works to return Boeing A160T to flight to complete demonstration"] , Flightglobal.com, March 6, 2008.