The Navy and Marine Corps have begun the process of outlining the requirements for an unmanned cargo helicopter but as of yet have not established a timeframe for declaring a program of record, the Navy’s program manager for cargo unmanned aerial systems said Thursday.

Navy Capt. Patrick Smith of Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) said the two services are exploring the requirements for the Cargo UAS program following the completed deployment in Afghanistan of the K-MAX system developed under an urgent need.

K-MAX. Photo by Lockheed Martin
K-MAX. Photo by Lockheed Martin

A program of record establishes a formal acquisition program that typically identifies, among other things, the number of planned purchases and capability requirements.

“It is in the planning phases only,” Smith said on a conference call. Smith spoke to reporters following the return to the United States of the K-MAX unmanned helicopter from Afghanistan earlier this month.

Two K-MAXs were deployed to the country at the end of 2011 and began operations shortly thereafter. One had to be brought back last year after crashing.

The two systems were developed under an urgent requirement to ferry cargo to Marines in remote areas of Afghanistan and were designed to counter the risks associated with ground convoys. The autonomous flying K-MAX quickly won high marks for delivering equipment and supplies into hot zones without putting personnel in danger.

Smith said in moving toward a program of record the Navy is applying the experience in Afghanistan to define requirements but will also do so through future flight demonstrations planned to take place in the United States starting in fiscal 2015. The idea is to come up with “a very concise and achievable set of requirements to go forward with,” Smith said.

He said it’s likely the Cargo UAS program would offer a lift capability that would fill the gap between the manned H-1 light lift helicopter and the heavy lift CH-53.

“Right now my guess would be that that’s going to be an initial area that we want to look at,” Smith said.

K-MAX can carry a payload up to 6,000 pounds with a range of about 75 nautical miles, he said.

Congress has also taken notice of K-MAX’s effectiveness and has urged the Navy and Marine Corps to formalize the Cargo UAS program. The Army, partly because of congressional nudging, has also begun to establish a program.

Lockheed Martin [LMT] is the prime contractor for K-MAX along with partner Kaman Aerospace [KAMN].

The aircraft cost about $11 million for each, with an hourly flight bill of about $1,200-$1,300. Adding in contractor services, the total monthly bill for operating the K-MAXs in Afghanistan came to about $1 million.

Smith had previously said the Navy and Marine Corps were examining the possibility of using unmanned helicopters to ferry cargo from ships to land. NAVAIR did not respond to an email following Wednesday’s briefing asking whether that remained the case.

During their time in Afghanistan, the K-MAXs delivered more than 3 million pounds of cargo, and in one instance they moved 30,000 pounds of supplies in six flights in a 24-hour period. The K-MAX’s have ferried everything from ammunition to generators to basic goods like water, food and mail.

If Cargo UAS becomes a program of record, other companies could compete. One system could be Boeing’s [BA] A-160T Hummingbird, which was a candidate under urgent need phase of Cargo UAS but was eliminated after encountering technical problems.

Northrop Grumman [NOC] has also hinted at adapting its larger version of the Fire Scout under development by the Navy for intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance missions, and known as the MQ-8C, for the cargo mission.