Mach Industries Wins DIU Contract to Develop Atlas Runway-Independent Long-Range Naval Drone

Rendering of Mach Industries Atlas UAS for DIU and Navy RIMES program Image credit: Mach Industries

Defense startup Mach Industries announced on June 16 that it has been awarded a contract by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to serve as aircraft integrator for a program developing a runway-independent, long-range unmanned aircraft system (UAS) for the U.S. Navy.

Background: The RIMES Program

DIU and the U.S. Navy jointly launched the Runway Independent Maritime Expeditionary Strike (RIMES) program in February of this year, seeking a long-range UAS that can be deployed from surface combatants without large flight decks. Intended missions include one-way attack strikes and munitions-delivery missions with return to the vessel for rearming.

Program requirements include:

• Ability to deliver 1,000-lb-class munitions — equivalent to those carried by naval fighter aircraft — or pallet-based weapons
• One-way attack range of 1,400 nautical miles
• Launch and recovery without a fixed runway

Atlas: A New Hybrid-Electric Propulsion Platform

Mach Industries says it will lead development of the Atlas aircraft as prime integrator. Atlas is described as "a next-generation aircraft leveraging innovative aerodynamic and propulsion technologies to provide warfighters with new advantages in contested environments."

Atlas will meet RIMES specifications as a hybrid-electric propulsion aircraft, offering runway-independent operations, a 1,000-lb payload capacity, and a 1,400-nautical-mile range.

Strategic Partner: Whisper Aero's JetFoil Technology

Mach Industries' strategic partner is Whisper Aero, a company focused on quieter, more efficient propulsion for drones and other aircraft. The Atlas program specifically integrates Whisper Aero's JetFoil technology within a scalable aircraft design.

Mark Moore, CEO of Whisper Aero, stated: "We developed JetFoil to power the next generation of conventional, short-field, and vertical take-off and landing aircraft — quietly and efficiently. With JetFoil, Atlas can effectively fulfill the RIMES mission, including operations from destroyer-class vessels."

Technical Advantages of Atlas

Mach Industries says Atlas can take off and land using unprepared helicopter landing zones while maintaining the handling simplicity of a fixed-wing aircraft. Critically, its thrust-to-weight ratio is less than half of what is required for vertical flight. Combined with efficient propulsion, Atlas delivers:

• Significantly extended range
• Substantially reduced acoustic signature
• Fewer components and a highly redundant propulsion architecture, reducing maintenance complexity and cost
• Low-cost, high-volume production capability, reducing cost-per-effect and fuel consumption per effect

Executive Statements

Nathan Diller, President and Chief Strategy Officer of Mach Industries, said: "Mach's rapid prototyping and mass production capabilities, combined with Whisper Aero's innovative aerodynamic and propulsion technology, make Atlas a revolutionary air mobility platform. After more than a decade focused on industrial scale and contested-environment warfare, I am confident this platform will redefine force projection for the joint force — achieving fundamental leaps in mission lethality, logistics footprint, acoustic signature, system survivability, and energy efficiency."

Diller previously served as Assistant Director for Aviation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and as a professional appropriations staffer on Capitol Hill. During his government tenure, he helped establish the Air Force AFWERX Agility Prime program in 2019, an initiative focused on leveraging commercial advanced air mobility technologies.

Portions of this article were originally published in sister publication Defense Daily.

原文來源： 查看原文