Japanese motorcycle giant kawasaki has successfully completed the flight test of its unmanned compound helicopter, the kawasaki k-racer. held at the multipurpose aviation park in hokkaido, the demonstration saw the helicopter conquer high speeds not technically possible for conventional helicopters. all this was done, of course, autonomously.

Overall, the test proved that even at super high speed the kawasaki k-racer is stable and that it can fly on its own. the aircraft has a distinctive configuration featuring a 4-meter-diameter rotor with the main wings and propellers of both sides instead of a tail rotor. the left and right propellers counter the torque associated with the main rotor’s rotations and generate thrust to move the helicopter forward. once in forward flight, the main wings share the lift and reduce the load on the main rotor in order to achieve high-speed flight which is not possible for conventional helicopters.

This is not the first helicopter kawasaki develops. the company actively works on vehicles that play an active role in firefighting, disaster prevention, and emergency medical service purposes among others. ‘we will use the results obtained from this test for the development of VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) vehicles, including manned/unmanned helicopters, and for the development of aircraft operation systems in conjunction with various services. we will contribute to society by making the most of our aviation technology, which includes the realization of VTOL systems in the future.

Original Source [designboom]

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