Heavy drones could be the future of delivery services for the US Navy

As larger heavy-lift VTOL UAV technology evolves, it’s becoming more and more likely that the US Navy will be at the forefront of drone use of this size in real-world applications, reducing costs to taxpayers and decreasing the risk to service members needed to transport supplies between ships and shore.

Heven Drones debuted its new heavy lift, Raider drone at the International Defense Exhibition Conference. The drone’s 50-pound payload, compact and VTOL design makes it a perfect candidate for takeoff and landing in cramped conditions like naval flight decks or remote forward operating bases.

According to Heven Drones, the Raider can carry anything from emergency supplies, surveillance equipment, or direct effect payloads. Being powered by hydrogen fuel cells, the drone fits the use case where you need more than a quadcopter, but not quite a manned helicopter. However, Heven Drone’s CEO states that the Raider is “100 to 1,000 times cheaper” than MQ-9 Reaper UAVs used today.

Heven Drones, headquartered in Miami, Florida, but with the bulk of its research and development team in Israel, is an NDAA-compliant UAV manufacturer. With a history of smaller hydrogen-powered drones, the Raider is a step up from its previous platforms, although Raider takes many design cues from its smaller VTOL UAVs.

An area that might see the biggest adoption of these heavy-lift UAVs is in naval operations. Replacing larger manned cargo helicopters with a fleet of UAVs to deliver more typical supplies.

The vast majority of US Navy supply missions that are required to keep ships operational are less than 50 points, according to UAV Weekly. These missions are operated by manned MH-60 and V-22 aircraft, with naval aviation inherently more risky than traditional aviation; this puts added risk to service members who have to fly these aircraft.

Moving to UAVs capable of long-range flights could be the solution for cheaper and safer routine supply runs to naval vessels.

“Maritime resupply missions are the lifeblood of naval operations, and for the U.S. Navy and our allies, there is a critical need to automate expensive, resource-intensive deliveries of critical payloads in strategic maritime environments like the Indo-Pacific region,” said PteroDynamics CEO Matthew Graczyk.

PteroDynamics, a UAV manufacturer based out of Colorado Springs, Colorado, successfully demonstrated useful UAV operations during the Department of Defense’s RIMPAC Exercise last year. The company completed 12 autonomous ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore missions, carrying payloads of up to 15 pounds, with its P4 Transwing UAV.

This was the first time PteroDynamics’s Transwing UAV was able to be operated in these sorts of real-world scenarios. The Transwing design allowed the P4 to vertically take off and land, but transition to horizontal flight with a rotation of its wings and motors to face forward, allowing for more efficient and longer-range flight.

Next up, PteroDynamics is working to develop its P5 Transwing UAV under a contract with the US Navy for $4.65 million. The P5 will transition from a fully electric power system to a hybrid one and support up to 50 pounds of payload.

Designed entirely for cargo flights, the P5 could replace the more expensive manned aircraft in the near future if it is successful.

In the future, PteroDynamics plans to develop an even larger P7 Transwing UAV that can carry up to 620 pounds of payload 1,000 nautical miles.