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Boeing is conducting final flight trials of its MD 500-based H-6U Unmanned Little Bird that it expects to conclude in mid-2016. Source: Boeing
Boeing expects to conclude flight trials of its optionally piloted H-6U Unmanned Little Bird (ULB) later this year, a company spokesperson told IHS Jane's on 11 January.
The H-6U, which is an MD 500 Little Bird observation and scout platform fitted with Boeing's Optionally Piloted Vehicle kit, is currently conducting its final flight trials, the company said in a statement. No further details as to the nature of the trials or the company's plans for the platform once the trials are concluded in mid-2016 were disclosed.
"The MD 500 helicopter, with the Optionally Piloted Vehicle kit installed on it, is currently undergoing flight testing. We expect flight tests to be completed in mid-2016," IHS Jane's was told in response to a question on the status of the programme.
Boeing has two ULB helicopters at its Mesa facility in Arizona that it is using on multiple US and international customer technology demonstration programmes, such as automated shipboard launch/recovery, autonomous cargo delivery system, cyber attack resistance, and development of advanced flight control system prototyping. They are also being tested for unmanned kits to potentially convert a variety of helicopters to optionally piloted platforms.
Of all the potential international requirements for unmanned/optionally piloted MD 500 technology, arguably none are as defined or advanced as those of South Korea. Boeing was due to undertake demonstration flights of the ULB for South Korea in late 2015, but it has not said if this has yet happened (these latest unmanned flight trials were originally scheduled to have taken place before the end of 2014 but were understood to have been delayed by certification and clearance issues).
Boeing has previously conducted a demonstration flight of the ULB helicopter for the Republic of Korea Army (RoKA) in the United States in 2012, and in 2013 a memorandum of understanding was signed with Korea Air Aerospace Division (KAL-ASD) to convert an undisclosed number of the RoKA's MD 500 helicopters into unmanned platforms.
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Boeing's Unmanned Little Bird nears completion of flight trials | IHS Jane's 360
