Army eyes hand-launched quad drone + a virtual industry day Signup By Mar 18th

[Desert.Rat]

Saw this in my Military & Aerospace news. With as many great quads being built and designed by everyday folks like us, this could be an opportunity for startup. Need to send interest info in by today to be invited to a virtual industry day.

Companies interested should email two-page information papers and initial questions no later than this Friday, 18 March 2016 to the Army's Sarah Coleman at sarah.w.coleman.civ@mail.mil

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md., 14 March 2016. U.S. Army researchers are asking for industry's help in designing an unmanned aerial drone about the weight of a baseball to enable forward-deployed infantry to conduct 15-minute reconnaissance missions on the battlefield.
Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., issued a request for information (W91CRBRequestforInformation) earlier this month for the Soldier Borne Sensors (SBS) program to develop a personal battlefield surveillance drone for Army infantry.
The entire system consisting of control console, display, and unmanned aircraft will weigh about 3 pounds, and the actual drone aircraft will weigh about 150 grams (5.29 ounces). One warfighter will be able to operate the drone by himself, and the drone will work during the day, at night, and in light rain.
The Army Contracting Command is issuing its request for information on behalf the Army's Product Manager Soldier Maneuver Sensors (PM SMS) within the Army's Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier.
Related: Army asks Norwegian company to design Black Hornet pocket UAV helicopter for foot soldiers
Army researchers will brief industry on the program's objectives from 1 to 5 p.m. on 12 April 2016 during a virtual industry day to address enabling technologies that support the ability of the infantry squad to obtain real-time actionable information out of the range of contact. An Army squad has 8 to 24 warfighters.
The stand-alone system will have all hardware, software, radio equipment, batteries, and a tactical carrying pouch and is to be flown by one operator; display incoming video and telemetry data in near real time during the day, at night, and in light precipitation.
The system will be able to return to a predetermined location if it loses its radio link; have a display that is during the day and at night; accept standard battery charging; have an unmanned aircraft able to fly in manual mode and by waypoint navigation; and have an operating radius of 500 meters for 15 minutes.
The system's display must have sufficient resolution for a trained operator to detect a man-sized target with a 90-percent probability; and have a UAV that can be launched and recovered by hand while the operator is lying down under cover. The operator must be able to set up the system and launch the UAV within 60 seconds, and the UAV must be able to fly reliably in 10-knot winds with gusts to 15 knots.
Related: The coming age of the military micro-drone
Companies interested should email two-page information papers and initial questions no later than this Friday, 18 March 2016 to the Army's Sarah Coleman at sarah.w.coleman.civ@mail.mil.
For questions or concerns, or to learn how to attend the virtual industry day briefings, contact the Army's Leo Sydlink by email at Leo.J.sydlik.civ@mail.mil, or by phone at 410-278-2414.
More information is online at https://www.fbo.gov/notices/f958d13185cc0d905a33e4922ebc173f

 

[PsyBorg]

Sounds like some lofty goals there. 150 grams flying weight barely allows for a battery large enough to fly anything for 15 minutes even if I only scale it in my head.. Wont even begin to think of how useless it would be as a fart in any direction would blow something that light all over the place. They spec it for 10 to 15 knot gusts... that's 11.5 mph to 17.2 mph. I don't fly my versa in anything close to 15 yet and they want these guys to use them while in battle...STRESS!!! not to mention that inevitable walk of shame.

Will be interesting to see what comes from all that but I don't see much success

 

[makattack]

Yeah, for something that can fly 15 minutes, weigh under 150g, be able to fly autonomously, it would have to be a fixed wing platform, and even then, being able to fly in sustained 10 knot winds is a tall order.

I can't see how this can be done without a tethered cable providing power if it's going to be a multirotor design.

 

[CrashRecovery]

I might email her, since I am local to show her what would really be needed for this. Just for a heads up.

Edit:
I just did. Lets see if I get a responce

 

[CrashRecovery]

Update,
I got a response. not a direct one but one none the less. I have been given the weblink to join the web seminar on this project and the phone number to call in if I have questions.
I will post what I can