HAV and Naval postgraduate school sign CRADA

HAV and NPS have recently signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to explore the impact that hybrid aircraft technologies may have on mobility resilience and flexibility in support of the US Navy and Marine Corps expeditionary warfighting capability.

Highly efficient and with a combination of payload capacity and endurance that is unmatched by other types of aircraft, Hybrid Air Vehicles leaders believe the Airlander family of aircraft have unique characteristics that are well suited to the applications this three-year CRADA seeks to explore. The aircraft's ability to take off and land from virtually any flat surface, even if unprepared, can facilitate operations from remote and austere locations.

"We are excited to start our work with the NPS team to evaluate Airlander in US Marine Corps-led scenarios. Our previous experience during NATO Trial UNIFIED VISION confirmed that Airlander 10 can be a transformative surveillance asset. This CRADA is an excellent opportunity to validate Airlander's viability in a much wider range of defence applications including mobility and logistics," Nick Allman, Chief Operating Officer, HAV.

NPS students and staff will engage fleet units across the Navy and Marine Corps to develop scenarios based on real-world exercises and deployments. Developing multiple scenarios will allow the team to consider multiple geographies as well as both logistics and mobility applications. These scenarios will then be modelled, and performance evaluated against jointly developed criteria. NPS and HAV will also generate a joint plan for field experimentation and demonstration of capability.

A unique aspect of this CRADA is the inherently inter-disciplinary nature of the technology exploration. Multiple interest groups across NPS will be able to collaborate with HAV on a variety of subjects within hybrid airship technology, from electric engines to material resilience. Additionally, NPS and HAV intend to utilise the emerging field of digital twin technology to explore how requirements development of large-scale transportation platforms can be made more efficient.

"The CRADA mechanism allows NPS to work in-depth with companies on specific emerging technologies. This is more important than ever because, today, industry is the prime source of innovation and capabilities. NPS, with our experienced officer students and our dedicated faculty, is an ideal partner to identify and expand upon the defense applications of these new technologies," Dr. Jeff Paduan, Dean of Research, Naval Postgraduate School.

This work will leverage HAV's knowledge of Airlander and NPS' extensive experience in military equipment requirements, force package deployment and redeployment, and Expeditionary Advanced Basing Operations (EABO). The CRADA brings together the experience and tools to model complex, long-duration scenarios to demonstrate platform viability.

The Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) does not imply endorsement of Hybrid Air Vehicles or its products by the Naval Postgraduate School, the Department of the Navy, or the Department of Defense.