ManTech Tackles Rapid Response NFL-Style

  • Published
  • By Brandon Lovett
  • Materials and Manufacturing
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  A successful flight test conducted by Boeing and the Air Force Research Laboratory proved the feasibility of designing, developing, and manufacturing--in a dramatically streamlined process spanning less than 4 weeks--an unmanned air vehicle capable of carrying a defined payload. The solid test performance of the UAV as an ultraportable, highly maneuverable, low-cost, and easy-to-operate aircraft--coupled with the platform's swift emergence--demonstrates the rapid response capacity to achieve desired attributes in an unmanned platform ultimately contributing to improved situational awareness for warfighters.

The test culminates an effort begun in 2009, with the AFRL Manufacturing Technology Division's distribution of a white paper requesting a UAV satisfying the established payload and timeline criteria. In response to ManTech's appeal, Boeing engineers set to work leveraging direct digital rapid manufacturing techniques to create thermoplastic UAV parts without using any tools. The team first transformed the documented requirements into a three-dimensional design schematic and then fabricated the parts via fused deposition modeling, with each component undergoing thermoplastic printing by way of a 3-D printer.

Based on this novel approach to design and assembly, activities which occurred at the company's Defense Space and Security Headquarters, Boeing was able to take the project--and its breakthrough results--from paper to flight test on time and according to schedule. The resultant Rapid Manufacturing-1 (RM-1) aircraft, a 5 lb UAV operated via remote-control joystick and powered by battery, is designed to hold a small camera for collecting battlefield imagery. The system, in its entirety, ships in an aluminum container roughly the size of a small suitcase.

Rather than waiting months for an available government flight test group, the Boeing/AFRL team contacted officials at the Edward Jones Dome, the stadium used by the National Football League's St. Louis Rams, regarding the possibility of performing the flight test there. Facility representatives granted permission. Because this agreement allowed testing to occur in an enclosed space, it reduced both risks and costs--specifically, the risks related to traditional open-space testing and the costs associated with observing Federal Aviation Administration regulations governing airspace limitations. During the successful test flight, which took place Feburary 24, the RM-1 flew for 6 min and achieved an altitude of 60 ft inside the dome.