Advanced Ship/UAV Recovery, Securing, and Handling Interface

Sponsored by: Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division

Landing and securing helicopters to the deck of a pitching and rolling ship has always been a challenge for naval aviators, especially since helicopters are often required to land on vessels that are much smaller and less stable than their fixed wing counterparts' aircraft carriers. Today, the U.S. Navy uses several different types of landing aids including the HARPOON and ASIST systems. These systems, however, are large, expensive, and heavy, making them non-ideal for use on future smaller vertical-landing UAVs. To overcome this challenge, AITHER proposed a novel landing aid that would not only help the aircraft land but would capture it and provide for deck handling, all without human intervention.

The Conical Recovery, Securing, and Handling (CORSH) system consists of three main components: the conical recovery cone, an automatic capture mechanism, and the self-contained propulsion and guidance system for deck movement. Similarly, the aircraft itself would be modified with semi-circular skids and a receiving probe on the underside of the helicopter. Upon landing, the circular landing gear would mate with the recovery cone, guiding it into position. When seated, the aircraft’s probe would contact and activate the latching capture mechanism, thereby tightly securing the aircraft to the cone and deck. A tracked or video-guided propulsion system would then allow the coupled cone/UAV to be moved out of the way on the flight deck.

Early in the project, AITHER developed a preliminary design of both the helicopter modifications and the ship-based recovery cone. Ground resonance analysis performed on the circular landing gear showed the need to separate the aircraft’s landing gear into two halves to avoid over-stiffening the landing gear. For the recovery cone, a diesel-powered propulsion system was chosen to provide both the necessary power and operating time expected to be required during flight operations. A hydraulically reset, spring-loaded locking mechanism makes up the capture device. Special attention was paid to ensure an axially symmetric system so that the aircraft could be rotated on the cone during takeoffs and landings to compensate for changing wind conditions.

The second half of the project was a series of scaled demonstration flights of the recovery system using a modified remote-controlled helicopter to test the system concept. Suitable landing cones were fabricated, and the model helicopter’s landing gear was modified to fit the cone geometry. Both cones and pyramids were tested with the cones performing significantly better. Multiple landing tests showed that landing on the cones required no additional pilot skill or presented any complications compared to landing on level ground, even during simulated pitching and rolling, and provided the desired benefit of automatically centering the helicopter over the capture point.

View demonstration video:

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