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A rendering of Kaman's proposed Kargo UAV drone the Bloomfield, Conn.-based company hopes to sell to the U.S. military and commercial customers. (Image courtesy Kaman)

Marine Corps pilots in a pair of K-MAX helicopters in Yuma, Ariz., manufactured by Kaman of Bloomfield, Conn. (U.S. Marine Corps media photo by Pfc. George Melendez)

The K-MAX Titan helicopter drone developed by Kaman Corp. of Bloomfield, Conn. (Kaman media photo via BusinessWire)

On the heels of Sikorsky’s ballyhooed flight of an autonomous Black Hawk, Connecticut’s other helicopter manufacturer is nearing flight tests for an aerial drone to tote cargo to troops, workers in remote locales, or people needing emergency supplies after disasters.

Kaman plans its first flight tests later this year for Kargo UAV, an unmanned aerial vehicle designed to lift loads of up to 800 lbs. and carry them hundreds of miles. The Bloomfield manufacturer is hoping to interest the U.S. military in the rotorcraft drone, as well as select industries that rely on regular cargo shuttles or sporadic replenishment flights.

The Naval Helicopter Association Historical Society credits Kaman with being the first to fly an unmanned helicopter, in 1957. The U.S. Marine Corps used a remotely piloted version of the company’s K-MAX helicopter in Afghanistan, and the Marines have prototypes of Kaman’s newest K-MAX Titan helicopter drone that is designed to carry more than two tons of payload.

While the K-MAX Titan fuselage and rotors are not dissimilar to those of a conventional helicopter, the Kargo UAV resembles a oversize version of the lightweight quadcopter drones that are in widespread use today to shoot aerial photos and videos.

CEO Ian Walsh said last week that the company hopes to begin mass production of the Kargo aircraft by 2025.

“We are super-excited about the demand signals that we’re getting — both on the military and on the commercial side — for Kargo UAV,” Walsh said on a conference call with investment analysts. “On the commercial side, in terms of timing, it’s hard to predict; but I can tell you from recent meetings with certain customers and some of the markets that we’ve talked about, there is a huge requirement [and] demand for that type of application — oil and gas being one in particular.”

Kaman hired Walsh in September 2020. Earlier in his career, Walsh worked for Bell and parent company Textron, which both have designed unmanned aerial vehicles for the U.S. military including the Shadow used by the U.S. Army and Bell’s proposed V-247 Vigilant.

Bell is now vying with Sikorsky and Boeing to replace the Black Hawk with a new fleet of faster and more powerful utility aircraft. The Pentagon expects to issue a decision next month on its preferred design, with thousands of Connecticut jobs at stake at Sikorsky and parent company Lockheed Martin.

The U.S. Department of Defense budgeted $3.1 billion for UAV aircraft in coming fiscal year. The Pentagon’s spend for the coming year on unmanned aerial vehicles systems dwarfs what it is earmarking for new Black Hawk helicopters, though Sikorsky is counting on decades more work updating existing aircraft to the modern demands of warfare.

With surveillance and strike capability the early focus of drones, the military is adding cargo applications to its focus. The website MilitaryFactory.com lists about 100 military drones today for varying missions, some of them still in design phase.

The U.S. Navy has tested quadcopter prototypes made by a Colorado company called PteroDynamics that can lift up to 50 pounds, which the Navy said could be used for 90 percent of “critical repair” cargo runs to ships at sea.

But with Kargo, Kaman envisions an all-purpose drone wagon to drop off far heavier loads, whether at sea or in other remote locales. The U.S. Marine Corps has been weighing a cheap way to get ammunition and supplies to small teams of ground troops under an operating model it calls Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations, coordinating operations across hundreds of miles.

“If you do want to operate in that fashion, you have to worry about isolation and things like that — that’s a new tactic,” said Romin Dasmalchi, senior director of business development for Kaman’s government sales, and a former Marine colonel and aviator who led the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. “The idea behind Kargo was, we will provide an inexpensive, easy-to-operate, logistics-focused machine that can sustain troops. We’re not talking about pizza-box deliveries — we’re talking about supplying hundreds if not thousands of pounds of ammunition per day.”

The company has floated the possibility of commercial applications as well, including Kargo being used for “middle-mile” cargo hauls between warehouses to stage local “last-mile” deliveries to homes and businesses.

Kargo’s guidance systems are designed by a Pittsburgh startup called Near Earth Autonomy, in which Kaman invested $10 million in June. Near Earth Autonomy was part of the team that won the Vertical Flight Society’s Howard Hughes Award in 2018 for technical innovation, which Sikorsky won three years before with its Matrix autonomous flight system it has since adapted for the Black Hawk’s autonomous flight earlier this year.

Kaman biggest helicopter program was the small Seasprite and its successor Super Seasprite, which the U.S. Navy uses to hunt submarines and smaller surface ships lurking over the horizon, as well as for utility roles like cargo and medical evacuation.

The company derives most of its aviation revenue today from parts and systems that go into other manufacturers aircraft, including cockpits for search-and-rescue helicopters Sikorsky is making in Stratford for the U.S. Air Force. Kaman also makes fuzes for laser-guided bombs that arm and detonate the munitions; and parts for a wide range of industrial and medical systems.

Sales totaled $319 million in the first six months of this year, a 10 percent drop from a year ago. Profits were down by more than half to $8.1 million.

In January, the company sold off its Kaman Distribution Group subsidiary to Genuine Parts for $1.3 billion, with the division employing 1,700 people. Kaman reported a workforce of 2,850 people at the close of last year.

But Kaman is adding a major new product line with the $440 million acquisition of a Parker-Hannifin division outside Cleveland that makes aircraft wheels, brakes and related hydraulics — with aerial drones among the 450,000 aircraft with Parker-Hannifin systems on board.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman