Martin UAV Unveils V-BAT 128 for Defense and Private Sector

Martin UAV, a leading advanced aviation technology manufacturer in the United States, announced on 30 March the public release of the latest unmanned aircraft system (UAS), the V-BAT 128, for defense and commercial use. Its mission applications include search and rescue, firefighting, logistic resupply, and energy and oil and gas operations. A notable feature is the aircraft's “ability to transition from take-off to a vertical hover and persistent stare capability while maintaining a sensor line of sight, in spite of difficult terrain. …The upgraded V-BAT provides significantly enhanced payload capacity of 25 pound and interchangeable payloads to meet mission-specific requirements. Increased endurance of up to 11 hours, and higher thrust were made possible by leveraging a more powerful engine, the Suter TOA 288 model. With a wingspan of 9.7 feet, the V-BAT 128 can reach over 90 knots reaching altitudes of 20,000 feet.”  

The V-BAT series aircraft is reportedly “the only single-engine ducted fan VTOL that has the ability to launch & recover from a hover, fly up to eleven hours in horizontal flight, and make mid-flight transitions to ‘hover & stare’ at any time throughout a given mission set.”  Visit martinuav.com for details.

Thanks to CDR David Place (USN/Ret), davidplace47[at]gmail[dot]com, and Robin E. Alexander, President ATC, alexander technical[at]gmail[dot]com, for their assistance with this report, the background for which appeared in their  # 21 - 9 - 8 APRIL 2021 edition of the UNMANNED SYSTEMS NEWS (USN).

David distributes the USN, a free, comprehensive newsletter in PDF format every week or two, as well as serial news flashes, from which this NREF news update was sourced. To be included in his distribution, simply send David a subscribe request to davidplace47[at]gmail[dot]com