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Video: 'Forever Drone' Contest Heats Up

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Lockheed_vultureWhich company will end up building a drone that can stay aloft for five years? The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Aurora for the second phase of its ambitious Vulture program.

So far, it’s the battle of VuGraph engineering, but I mean that in a good way; that’s what they’re supposed to be doing at this point in the program. All three contestants to build DARPA’s long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle have now released some form of concept art, so it’s a good time to take a look at who is offering what.

Over at Aviation Week’s Ares blog, Graham Warwick has been tracking the three competitors who are squaring off in this long endurance competition. Lockheed just released its notional Vulture. Graham notes some of key attributes of the Lockheed proposal:

[I]t is a single vehicle intended to stay aloft for the full five years. Notable design features include the tails, which rotate to collect the most sunlight. The "launch once" vehicle will also capture photovoltaic energy from the Earth’s albedo, says Derek Bye, Lockheed’s Vulture program manager.

As for Boeing’s version of Vulture, it’s "more conventional," writes Graham. "It is a single, very large air vehicle designed to stay up there for the full five years. The manufacturer says its design will leverage technology already demonstrated by QinetiQ’s (much, much smaller) Zephyr solar-powered UAV."

Graham also notes that of the three, Aurora is taking the most unique approach (whether that’s the best approach has yet to be seen):

But what’s most unusual about Aurora’s design is that it’s actually three air vehicles that take off separately and dock in the stratosphere. This avoids having to fly that huge wing through the turbulent lower atmosphere, and allows an individual section to undock and fly home for repair if needed. A replacement vehicle "module" would be launched to take its place.

Here’s a concept video demonstrating Aurora’s approach:

And just by way of a reminder, here’s the original DARPA video on the Vulture concept, which is devoid of content, but pretty to look at:

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