<div><img class=”invisible” style=”display: none” src=”[images%7COpenAccessDataProvider]0ca9a027-663f-4244-b857-e85194e10000?sfvrsn=8296e263_2″></div><div class=”w-100 position-relative”> <img src=”/ResourcePackages/Janes/assets/dist/images/placeholder-16-9.jpg” class=”invisible w-100″> <div style=”background-image: url(“https://www.janes.com/images/default-source/news-images/bsp_74197-jdw-26233.jpeg?sfvrsn=8296e263_2″)” class=”news-hero bg-center bg-cover position-absolute left-0 top-0 h-100 w-100″></div></div>
<p class=”text-body text-muted small”>Airbus’s unmanned UH-72 concept, displayed at Modern Day Marine 2024. (Janes/Zach Rosenberg)</p>
<p>Airbus unveiled a conceptual unmanned version of the company’s UH-72B at Modern Day Marine 2024, which it intends to pitch to the US Marine Corps (USMC) to fulfil its expected unmanned ship-to-shore cargo carrier requirement.</p>
<p>
Airbus has been working on the concept for roughly one year, Carl Forsling, senior director for business development and strategy at the company’s US branch, told
<em>Janes</em>
at Modern Day Marine on 1 May.
</p>
<p>“We’re doing this in response to a Marine Corps requirement under [middle tier acquisition] for rapid prototyping,” Forsling said. Such programmes are intended to field prototypes within two to five years. “We’re confident that using an off-the-shelf modification of [our] platform, we can meet those timelines.”</p>
<p>
The company’s pitch is based partially on commonality with the US Army’s UH-72 versions. The service operates more than 400 such helicopters for stateside training and transport, according to
<em>Janes All the World’s Aircraft: Development & Production</em>
, and would allow the US Department of Defense to take advantage of economies of scale.
</p>
<p>Modifying the helicopter for its unmanned role would require minimal changes, Forsling said.</p>
<p>“We’re going to introduce a fly-by-wire kit to the flight controls, and there’s the associated autonomy software and hardware, some civic navigation aids, things like that required for autonomous flight in a military environment,” Forsling said. “But we do have to make some modifications to the cargo compartments, as well as the doors, to accommodate the cargo” the USMC would likely carry.</p>