Water Take-off and Landing Hybrid Copter approach for Maritime CONOPs

Abstract

With the rise in the use of multi-vehicles teams, for maritime operations, new challenges and opportunities arise regarding the complexity and logistics of these scenarios. One way to cope with said complexity is to imbue some of these systems with the versatility of operating in more than one physical medium (air/water/land) during its normal mission cycle, maximizing their possible mission roles. The ability of having a vehicle which can operate both in the air and on the water can further expand and facilitate maritime operations by allowing new sampling, deployment and even communication scenarios. This work follows the iterations of a specific vehicle concept, through its various phases, and tracks the developments and challenges necessary to adapt a Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) to become capable of water take-off & landing, and explores its applicability as a viable operational mobile communication gateway for underwater and surface assets.