The 'AirMule' can carry its loads for 31 miles and will be able to reach places traditional helicopters can't in the next few years, its creators hope.
Now a prototype of the craft, which takes off and lands vertically, has cleared the first hurdle by completing its first untethered journey at an Israeli air base.
Its internal rotor blades means it can fly in mountainous, wooded and urban terrain that helicopters can't reach and can carry two men at once.
The manufacturer, Tactical Robotics Ltd, says on its website: "Battle conditions that are increasingly averse to conventional rotorcraft access.
"Today’s conflicts are increasingly defined by insurgents whose battlefields of choice are cities, villages and other environments that are inaccessible to helicopters.
"Supply convoys and medical teams entering these locations experience lethal threats unlike any that have been experienced in the past."
It's also hoped that the craft, which can withstand high winds, will be able to respond to disaster zones in the event of natural or nuclear catastrophes.
Rafi Yoeli, CEO of Urban Aeronautics – Tactical Robots' parent company – said: "We expect that in 2016 we will finally be able to demonstrate some of AirMule's unique capabilities."
"With close to 200 flights on the AirMule prototype we are confident that this capability can be fielded in just a few years," he told Defense Update.
(dailystar.co.uk)
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