Project for the creation of innovative unmanned aerial vehicles with cyclic propulsion systems.

At the end of December, the ARCO project office completed the design and feasibility study for an innovative UAV production facility.The results were presented to the customer, the Advanced Research Foundation (ARCO, Moscow), on December 18, 2020.

As a result of this work, an information model (BIM) was developed - a prototype of the digital twin of the future production. The model implements the general technological and hardware solutions, determines the estimated and time limits for design and construction.

The interactive financial and economic model (IFEM) was developed, reflecting the connection of investments (including capital investments for construction) and calculation of indicators, characterizing the planned operational activity. Taken together, the results obtained allowed to obtain reliable data on the technological, hardware, architectural and structural solutions, the technical conditions of providing the future production with the necessary energy resources, the volume of the required investments and the efficiency of their investment.

An abstract of the project materials can be found here.ссылке.

For the first time, a demonstrator of an aircraft with cyclic propulsion systems (cyclocopter) was presented at the Army-2020 international forum.

The main advantages of the cyclo-plane are compactness, low noise level in comparison with a helicopter or a quadcopter. Also used cyclic propulsors allow to change direction of a vector of thrust on 360 degrees. Thanks to this, it is able to fly among obstacles, dock to vertical surfaces, as well as to carry out takeoff and landing on an inclined surface. Peripheral protection of engines will allow to avoid destruction of thrusters at collision with obstacles.

As Grigory Makeich, project manager of the Advanced Research Foundation, comments:

"Such unmanned cyclopters will be able to perform tasks in the interests of the Ministry of Defense - to carry out strike functions. Any payload can be attached to the drone. The drone can also do reconnaissance and due to low noise level it can do it invisibly. There are plans for a large vehicle that can carry up to six people. By 2024, a full-size passenger cyclo-pilot should be created. https://fpi.gov.ru/press/news/na-armii-2020-predstavlen-pervyy-rossiyskiy-tsiklolet/