Piasecki Aircraft Corp. has performed the first flight of a proof-of-concept tilt-duct demonstration vehicle, marking a significant milestone in the technology’s development.
The Aerial Reconfigurable Embedded System (ARES) is being developed with the help of U.S. military funding, offering the potential for combat and logistics support operations such as medevac or cargo resupply.
The aircraft is designed for modular multi-mission work, with the potential for unmanned operation, or manned flight with an optional flight module. The idea is that can carry rapidly reconfigurable modules to offer the maximum flexibility and a reduced logistics footprint and cost.
The landmark flight — performed at Piasecki’s West Helipad in Essington, Pennsylvania on Sept. 6 — saw the ARES flight module sustain a hover for about one minute before landing. A U.S. Army mobile multiple mission module was then attached to the flight module, which completed another successful one-minute hover.
“Since its origins as a DARPA conceptual design project, Piasecki has led ARES through years of research and development — design iterations, rigorous component testing, system level validation, and more — to mature the technology leading up to today’s landmark achievement,” said John Piasecki, CEO of Piasecki Aircraft.
“After successfully expanding the aircraft’s flight envelope, we will implement modifications to enable flight demonstration of a fully autonomous CASEVAC and logistics resupply capability.”
ARES features Honeywell’s Compact Fly-By-Wire system, which is designed to fit into the limited space available on smaller aircraft.
“The application of Honeywell’s Compact Fly By Wire in the ARES-DV not only showcases the ability of this technology to support a future multi-mission VTOL aircraft, but also the great cooperation between Honeywell and Piasecki in a fast-moving program,” said Dave Shilliday, VP & GM, Advanced Air Mobility, Honeywell Aerospace Technologies.
The hover test flight was funded by U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force contract awards. A further $37 million AFWERX contract, awarded in November 2023, will accelerate the further development and testing of ARES.
“ARES creates a new baseline for VTOL technology applied to heavy-payload, time-critical logistics crucial for dispersed operations,” said Barth Shenk, program manager at Air Force Research Laboratory.
