Use-Cases for Heavy Lift Unmanned Cargo Aircraft

Abstract

There is a growing interest in large unmanned cargo aircraft (UCA) with payload capacity and range significantly larger than drones for last-mile parcel delivery. Several fields of application for such types of UCA were suggested. In this chapter, the usability of such a large UCA is discussed for three use cases, namely spare parts logistics, supply of people in hard-to-reach areas, and disaster relief. Performance parameters of the UCA are based on the large cargo drone concept developed by the DLR (German Aerospace Center) within the project Automated Low Altitude Air Delivery – ALAADy. We describe specific characteristics of each use case and how the use of an UCA could result in improved transport solutions. UCA can be a suitable transport solution when spare parts with high criticality and high value and with low and irregular demand have to be supplied. Furthermore, UCA can improve the transport of essential goods in hard-to-reach areas. For usage in disaster relief operations the UCA needs additional capabilities like to detect people in need and to supply them by airdrops.