Posted on Oct 12, 2023
From KMAX to KARGO: Army, Marines test out new support drone - Breaking Defense
483
14
3
6
6
0
Amateurs talk killer robots, but professional talk logistics drones. As the Army and Marine Corps explore new ways to keep frontline forces stocked amidst rising threats to conventional supply lines, both services have independently decided to try out a new unmanned small helicopter called KARGO.
The Army announced its choice of KARGO just last week for a Heavy-Lift Vertical Take Off & Landing (HVTOL) drone capable of carrying supplies to troops in combat, the wounded to safety, or specialized sensor packages to perform reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and other roles. (The service reserved the right to pick a second company for the demonstration, but there’s not been any announcement of one so far). Meanwhile, the Marines had already picked KARGO last year as a candidate for the Medium variant of their Unmanned Logistics Systems — Air (MULS-A), along with a rival drone from Leidos.
KARGO is built by aerospace company Kaman and partner Near Earth Autonomy, which flew a half-sized version back in 2021 and now have two full-sized aircraft already ready to go, with one about to finish pre-flight checks, the company said.
The Army announced its choice of KARGO just last week for a Heavy-Lift Vertical Take Off & Landing (HVTOL) drone capable of carrying supplies to troops in combat, the wounded to safety, or specialized sensor packages to perform reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and other roles. (The service reserved the right to pick a second company for the demonstration, but there’s not been any announcement of one so far). Meanwhile, the Marines had already picked KARGO last year as a candidate for the Medium variant of their Unmanned Logistics Systems — Air (MULS-A), along with a rival drone from Leidos.
KARGO is built by aerospace company Kaman and partner Near Earth Autonomy, which flew a half-sized version back in 2021 and now have two full-sized aircraft already ready to go, with one about to finish pre-flight checks, the company said.
From KMAX to KARGO: Army, Marines test out new support drone - Breaking Defense
Posted from breakingdefense.com
Drones
Logistics
Marines
Posted 7 mo ago
Responses: 3
3
3
0
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel good day Brother William, always informational and of the most interesting. Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day!
(3)
(0)
3
3
0
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."“If you don’t have that separation between your autonomy stack and your safety functions, you will never get through independent test and evaluation,” Army Col. Jeffrey Jurand told the Nexus 23 conference earlier this year, “because…there’s no way to prove that [any] changes or upgrades to software you’ve done do not touch safety-critical vehicle management functions.”
“Non-deterministic systems are harder to certify,” said Near Earth’s Singh. “[But] generally, when we have a recognition task … to identify, Hey, that’s a person! That’s a vehicle! That’s a bird! Or, that’s another airplane! Those kinds of tasks … we use [machine] learning.”
..."“If you don’t have that separation between your autonomy stack and your safety functions, you will never get through independent test and evaluation,” Army Col. Jeffrey Jurand told the Nexus 23 conference earlier this year, “because…there’s no way to prove that [any] changes or upgrades to software you’ve done do not touch safety-critical vehicle management functions.”
“Non-deterministic systems are harder to certify,” said Near Earth’s Singh. “[But] generally, when we have a recognition task … to identify, Hey, that’s a person! That’s a vehicle! That’s a bird! Or, that’s another airplane! Those kinds of tasks … we use [machine] learning.”
(3)
(0)
2
2
0
I wonder since the drone pictured is Medical if they'll make a solo one powerful enough to get wounded out of the battlefield.
(2)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google