The Cormorant VTOL Transporter UAV might save American military lives on battlefields, and citizen lives on highways at home; chief correspondent Jonathan Hunt reports.
The Cormorant looks like something out of a Terminator movie with the ability to fly straight up into the air using a pair of six-foot fan rotors hidden underneath its body, one in front, one in back. Two smaller fans, mounted vertically at its rear allow horizontal flight. Power comes from a single turboshaft engine, similar to conventional helicopters.
Two smaller, encased rotors reduces the physical footprint of the Cormorant, making it better suited for flying in mountainous, wooded, or urban environments, compared to a conventional helicopter with a wider top rotor blade. The Cormorant, which is named after a species of aquatic bird, can also operate in higher winds than the safe recommended flying conditions of a conventional helicopter.
The Cormorant, built by Israeli-based Tactical Robotics, can lift more than 1,000 pounds of cargo, or two injured people, with a mission range of about 30 miles. Flying at more than 100 mph is slower than some medevac helicopter used in the Chicago area.
An optional rocket-deployed parachute is available as backup for landing if there is a flight malfunction.
Israeli research and US production could bring the Cormorant to service about 2022, but it seems hardly possible that local EMS procedures would allow patient transport without a medical professional on board with the patient. The Tactical Robotics Cormorant is designed by Rafi Yoeli and built by Tactical Robotics LTD., a subsidiary of Urban Aeronautics LTD. in Yavne, Israel.
The Cormorant UAV for casualty evacuation and cargo demonstration for the IDF.
Video by Tactical Robotics.
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