Unmanned Systems Technology 015 | Martin UAV V-Bat | William Sachiti | Sonar Systems | USVs | Desert Aircraft DA150 EFI | SeaCat AUV/ROV | Gimbals

23 Early history During the mid-2000s, amid considerable work by Dr Morris on DARPA’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) modernisation programme, he sought to tackle the challenge of creating a UAV that could fly ScanEagle-type missions such as maritime ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) without the usual ancillary equipment such as launch catapults or recovery apparatuses and their associated overheads. Traditionally, small to medium-sized military-grade UASs for ISR missions need to be transported to where they are needed using large aircraft such as a C-130 Hercules to account for this ancillary equipment. But if they did not need that equipment then they could be taken to their destination theatre using something as small and low-cost as a Chinook helicopter or Humvee-type ground vehicle. That, according to Martin UAV’s senior director of special programs Wayne McAuliffe and chief operations officer Phil Jones, is where the original concept of the V-Bat arose. With a Small Business Innovation Research contract from the US government, and beginning with the knowledge accrued on ducted fans through the FCS programme, Dr Morris sought to design, build and test a ducted fan for a UAV that could fly horizontally on the wing. “Stephen would fly it once per quarter, and in fact had only one model that he actually flew,” Jones recalls. “His company, MLB, had fewer than ten people, and from 2008 onwards the V-Bat was always a side project, a niche capability that might one day give its user VTOL and persistent EO/IR while avoiding any launch or recovery equipment. MLB’s bread-and-butter projects, like the Super-Bat and Bat-4 STOL UAVs, were always elsewhere though, so he could never focus his efforts on the V-Bat.” Ruben Martin, president and CEO of Martin Midstream Limited Partners (MMLP), bought MLB in 2015 to help finance the development of the V-Bat, which he (and Morris) saw at the time as being well-suited to aerial inspections of powerlines and oil and gas infrastructure, which MMLP was deeply involved with. “Stephen actually thought it might fit better into the commercial market, flying over powerlines, petrochemical infrastructure or fishing stocks, for example,” McAuliffe explains. Jones adds, “Ruben wasn’t involved in aviation back then, but he loved UASs and saw immense potential for their use in commercial energy industries. So he went to the IDEX event in Abu Dhabi seeking UAV OEMs, and nothing else there provided the V-Bat’s combination of hover, high-speed cruise, endurance and VTOL in a single unit.” The cruising speed of 45 knots is projected to give the user a minimum of eight hours’ endurance, assuming a full fuel tank and full use of the 5 lb payload limit, for a maximum take-off weight of 90 lb. At that weight, the V-Bat has a maximum flight range of 350 miles, with telemetry limited to roughly 30 miles. Iterative development After MMLP’s acquisition of MLB (and its renaming as Martin UAV for corporate consistency), the V-Bat went through Martin UAV V-Bat | Dossier Unmanned Systems Technology | August/September 2017 Every UAV from the company is styled as a ‘Bat’. The V-Bat continues this tradition, following on from the Bat-4 and Super- Bat (pictured) craft The purchase of MLB by Martin Midstream Limited Partners was finalised in 2015, and the company was renamed Martin UAV