New Tech for Evacuating Wounded Soldiers from Battlefield

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The US Air Force wants flying cars to evacuate wounded soldiers from the battlefield, among other missions, including operating under fire. The Air Force is close to testing an experimental vertical takeoff flying car prototype under its new program. The four-rotor craft can carry up to 5,400 pounds up to 200 knots some 1,000 nautical miles.

The developer of Rhaegal-B, Sabrewing Aircraft Company, received a $3.25 million Phase II Small Business Innovative Research, The model resembles the M400X Skycar from Paul Moller, which in the early 2000s became the first non-helicopter vertical takeoff and landing aircraft to actually get off the ground. Given the high cost to power it, the M400 Skycar was impractical for most locations outside of the Middle East,  where oil sheiks would use them to traverse wide distances, Moller said at the time.

The Rhaegal-B design is highly but not fully autonomous, Sabrewing CEO Ed De Reyes said a controller will command it from a ground station, but with the sort of low-effort, push-button interface you would encounter on a Northrop Grumman Global Hawk.

According to defenseone.com, the Rhaegal-B combines radar and nine other sensors to give the aircraft a picture of the environment around it. It can take evasive action without any human control. If communication is cut off, it can continue to its destination with no additional input from the ground operator. 

The appeal for the Air Force has to do with versatility and even detectability. Air Force Col. Pete White, with Air Force Warfighting Integrating Capability, said that traditional helicopters are noisy compared to new vertical-lift aircraft. 

The military version of the aircraft has a Kevlar coating to protect it from small ballistics and can operate even when one of the motors is damaged.