After less than a year of flight efficiency and reliability testing, Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky subsidiary on Monday introduced its vertical take-off and landing Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) Nomad aircraft.
The Nomad system combines the versatility of a helicopter with the speed and range of a fixed-wing airplane, officials said. The Nomad UAS can take off, hover and land vertically, and can cruise on the wing for extended periods. Using Sikorsky’s autonomy technology and hybrid-electric propulsion, the Nomads are what the company calls its future family of aircraft.
“We use the term ‘family’ to point to a key attribute of the design; its ability to be scaled in size from a small Group 3 UAS to the footprint equivalent of a Black Hawk helicopter,” Rich Benton, Sikorsky vice president and general manager, said. “The resulting Nomad family of drones will be adaptable, go-anywhere, runway independent aircraft capable of land and sea-based missions across defense, national security, forestry and civilian organizations. Nomads are a force multiplier, complementing the missions of aircraft such as the Black Hawk to retain the strategic advantage in the Indo-Pacific and across broader regions.”
The Nomad UAS are designed for reconnaissance, light attack, contested logistics and more, and can be scaled from a Group 3 UAS (from 56 pounds to 1,320 pounds) to a Group 4/5 (over 1,320 pounds). The Group 3 18-foot wingspan variant is expected to have its first flight in the coming months, and the 10.3-foot wingspan prototype was announced in March.
“Nomad represents new breakthroughs for Sikorsky and the next generation of autonomous, long-endurance drones,” Dan Shidler, director of Advanced Programs with Lockheed Martin, said. “We are acting on feedback from the Pentagon, adopting a rapid approach and creating a family of drones that can take off and land virtually anywhere and execute the mission – all autonomously and in the hands of Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Airmen.”