Lockheed Martin’s subsidiary Sikorsky and Robinson Unmanned have won a $15.5m contract from the US Marine Corps (USMC) to deliver the R66 Turbinetruck helicopter for the Medium Aerial Resupply Vehicle – Expeditionary Logistics (MARV-EL) Increment 2 initiative.
R66 Turbinetruck is an autonomous cargo helicopter developed through collaboration between Sikorsky and Robinson Unmanned, which is a recently formed uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) division of Robinson Helicopter Company.
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Featuring Sikorsky’s MATRIX autonomy system integrated with Robinson Helicopter Company’s R66 airframe, the helicopter is expected to carry payloads between 1,300 and 2,500 lbs to a combat radius of 100 nautical miles.
The uncrewed aircraft is intended to support operations when ground or crewed aviation resources are not available and to minimise personnel exposure in high-risk situations.
Robinson Unmanned will deliver the first R66 Turbinetruck to Sikorsky for integration, test, evaluation, and demonstration.
During these demonstrations, Sikorsky intends to showcase the MATRIX system’s platform-agnostic and open architecture operating on the R66 airframe.
The R66 Turbinetruck will employ many features developed for Sikorsky’s S-70UAS U-Hawk helicopter, including the process for mission planning.
Operators enter mission objectives into a digital tablet, after which the system generates a flight plan and guides the aircraft using onboard sensors and algorithms.
Integration with the R66 Turbinetruck will involve a smaller footprint, altered performance parameters, and reduced operating costs compared to the U-Hawk approach.
Sikorsky vice president and general manager Rich Benton said: “As we expand the MATRIX family, we also extend the reach of uncrewed solutions for both civil and military customers.
“The commercially developed R66 TURBINETRUCK is simple, economical and re-configurable; ideal for high-risk, hard-to-reach environments where keeping personnel out of harm’s way is essential.”
The USMC’s MARV-EL programme is designed to address the gap between small tactical drones and large strategic airlifters by providing a “middleweight” uncrewed logistics platform that can operate from remote forward bases, ship decks, or unprepared landing zones.
Sikorsky also took part in the USMC’s Aerial Logistics Connector (ALC) Phase 1 last year and expects to apply that experience to MARV-EL Increment 2.
