At this year's ILA Berlin Air Show, Airbus Helicopters unveiled its latest entry into fully autonomous flight, the U145 twin-engine helicopter. Based on the company's H145 platform, the aircraft replaces the cockpit with clamshell cargo doors, freeing up additional space for payloads.
Autonomous flight is becoming an increasingly important focus across the aviation industry, with many projects aimed at removing pilots from aircraft or, at best, making them an optional extra. There are many reasons for this – not the least of which is that ditching the pilot and the cockpit itself opens up the opportunity to not only simplify the design of the aircraft, but also free up valuable cargo space and reduce weight.
It appears that Airbus is taking this idea seriously with its U145, which brings autonomy to its H145 light twin-engine helicopter. Building on the company's smaller VSR700 program, the U145 removes the cockpit entirely and replaces the forward flight deck with a specialized sensor suite and structural modifications designed to transform the aircraft into a 3.8-tonne cargo transport. This includes removing the airframe's nose section and swapping it for a clamshell doors, a folding loading table, and a reinforced cargo deck.
Aside from marking a move beyond small tactical drones and into the 3.8-tonne class, the U145 demonstrates an effort to minimize development risk and shorten production timelines by basing the design on an established helicopter with 9.5 million logged flight hours. In addition, using the H145 as the template allowed the U145 to be made a multi-mission platform. Along with cargo missions, the helicopter can also be used for armed scouting, firefighting, surveillance, and as a done mothership.
"With the U145, we are offering our customers an autonomous, uncrewed version of our H145 helicopter – combining the proven airframe, power and useful load of the H145 with the autonomy of a UAS," said Matthieu Louvot, CEO of Airbus Helicopters. "To develop the U145 and its capabilities as a multi-mission UAS, we will be teaming up with leading autonomous mission partners to further expand the UAS ecosystem in Europe."
The maiden flight of the U145 with a human safety pilot aboard is scheduled for later this year.
Source: Airbus Helicopters
