Warplanes: December 18, 2004

Archives

Boeing has modified one of its MD-530F light helicopters to operate either as a UAV, or a piloted aircraft. Taking advantage of advances in flight control software, the Unmanned Little Bird (ULB) UAV can carry half a ton of supplies to troops, or operate as a reconnaissance aircraft for up to eight hours at a time. The use of ULB for taking in supplies, and/or removing casualties, reduces the risk to pilots. You still need a crew, however, to operate the ULB remotely. The MD-530F is a 1.5 ton helicopter with a max cruising speed of 245 kilometers hour and a normal range of 600 kilometers. It is one of the more recent models in the very successful MD-500 line of helicopters. Over 5,000 of these helicopters have been manufactured (including the American military model, known as the OH-6).

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close