Feb 25, 2012
A prototype of the UAV developed by a student team of Delhi Technological University with financial resources and engineering mentoring support from Lockheed Martin was displayed at the ICAUV 2012 conference in Bengaluru.
The students also showed a video of their first flight test in January. The student team from DTU was selected by LMC due to their winning a US-based competition to design a small UAV, beating teams from universities such as MIT and Stanford. The LM Corporate Engineering and Technology organization is funding a sponsored research program with this winning team to develop a design for the next generation of UAV’s tailored for operations in large urban environments.
Test flight of the prototype UAV is scheduled for end February 2012. This will be reviewed by Lockheed Martin executives.
The announcement of this joint research was made by Dr. Ray O Johnson (senior vice president and chief technology officer, Lockheed Martin) in September 2009, during his visit to India. The work on this program officially began on November 1, 2009, with the receipt of the Phase I grant from Lockheed Martin. The student team was guided by John Sheehan (Sr. Systems Engineer at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and project manager for Urban UAS project) and Dr. Peter Drewes (business innovation manager-autonomous systems Lockheed Martin). They met the student team to define project objectives and describe metrics as well as a preview of the systems engineering approach to design, says LM.
In 2010 and 2011, the student team visited Lockheed Martin Aeronautics headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. Here the team has a chance to observe firsthand the F-16 production facility and meet with some of the F-16 production engineers. The completion of Phase I occurred on August 31, 2010, as the team presented their conceptual design for the next generation of Urban UAS to Lockheed Martin.
The project preceded on to Phase II which included the preliminary design, detailed design, fabrication, and testing with a progressive flight test program to expand the vehicles operational envelope. The preliminary design was presented to representatives from DRDO at the February 2011 Preliminary Design Review. This second phase of the effort provided the opportunity for the student team to collaborate with indigenous industry in India for the fabrication of key vehicle components. This phase provided the students the opportunity to manage program schedule, system and subsystem design and fabrication, and several subcontracts for UAS components.
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