Sikorsky Nomad 100 rotor-blown wing VTOL completes first flight under DARPA EVADE

Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, has flown the Nomad 100 rotor-blown wing prototype for the first time, New Atlas reported, citing an announcement tied to the Farnborough International Airshow. The aircraft is being developed under DARPA's Early VTOL Aircraft Demonstration program, known as EVADE. A rotor-blown wing uses proprotors to force air over the wings for lift in vertical flight, hover, and transition, then behaves more like a fixed-wing aircraft in level flight. New Atlas said the approach is meant to ease the usual VTOL trade-offs in speed, payload, and range while still allowing operations from ship decks or open fields without runways. The Nomad 100 is the prototype for a planned family of autonomous drones that could scale up to roughly Black Hawk size for missions such as reconnaissance, maritime patrol, light attack, and resupply. The first flight was intended to validate the blown-wing layout, show takeoff and landing on unprepared sites without specialized support gear, and demonstrate that Sikorsky's autonomous MATRIX onboard systems can manage flight dynamics so a remote pilot can focus on the mission. Sikorsky vice president and general manager Rich Benton said ongoing flight testing is aimed at autonomous technology and crewed-uncrewed teaming from austere bases to ship decks and unimproved landing zones, according to New Atlas.