Jaunt Air Mobility MAV55

MAV55
Jaunt Air Mobility
Dallas, Texas, USA
www.jauntairmobility.com

Founded in 2019, Jaunt acquired all the Intellectual Property (IP) from Carter Aviation for slowed-rotor and associated enabling technologies. Carter, an aviation Research & Development (R&D) company based in Texas, had been developing its slowed-rotor compound concept since 1994 and have developed several successful flying demonstrator prototype aircraft.

Jaunt is the world leader in Reduced rotor Operating Speed (ROSA™) aircraft, combining a fixed-winged aircraft's efficiency and advanced helicopter performance. ROSA is a suite of technologies that includes tilting mast technology for indiscriminate loading. The patented slowed-rotor technology slows the rotor once aloft, reducing drag and associated vibration, producing a lift to drag ratio up to five times better than a helicopter. That is, once the rotorcraft is flying at certain speeds, the main rotorblade will slow down allowing the wing to do the major lifting.

The U.S. Air Forces AFWERX High Speed Vertical Take-off and Landing (HSVTOL) Concept Challenge (open until June 22, 2021) chose Jaunt Air Mobility from 218 competitors. Now there are only 35 companies in the Air Force challenge. The 24th Secretary of the United States Air Force from 2017 through 2019, Heather Wilson at the time stated the program is to "increase lethality at a lower cost".

Started in 2017, AFWERX is a U.S. Air Force (USA) and US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) technology program to work with commercial businesses, mainly technology startups, to bring autonomous technologies that can support a wide range of military applications to the military using only small amounts of government money to fund these companies. The acronym AFWERX stands alone and does not represent an abbreviation for any names or phrases.

The name AFWERX might stand for US Air Force Works, is similar to Lockheed Martin's top secret military department named the Skunk Works. If this is correct, the E in the project name might stand for electric with the final project name changing the word Works to Werks or its final version: AFWERX. Due to the history of Lockheed's Skunk Works, the designation "skunk works" is now widely used in the commercial world to describe any group of employees within an organization given the task of working on advanced or secret projects with a high degree of autonomy and are typically unhampered by bureaucracy.

“Having worked within USSOCOM in Rotary Wing Special Operation Forces during my military service, our team fully understands the mission requirements of infiltration and exfiltration, personnel recovery, aeromedical evacuation, and tactical mobility, at jet-like speeds. These are the core fundamentals we applied in designing the MAV55. Still, we’ve also added the elements of lower acoustic signatures and minimal downwash in hover operations,” stated Jesse Crispino, Chief Operations Officer for Jaunt Air Mobility.

Juant's MAV55 is a military multi-mission hybrid-electric aircraft which offers a high cruise speed of 308 mph (496 km/h), a payload of 11,000 lb (4,990 kg) and with the vertical takeoff and landing capability of a helicopter. The MAV55 can also carry 12 troops. Jaunt’s has a patented slowed rotor compound (SRC) technology. This rotor technology allows provides VTOL flight during takeoff and landings. Once the aircraft is in forward flight, the helicopter rotorblades will slow down allowing higher forward speeds. The front two propellers for forward flight are on the wing tips and there is one pusher propeller.

Jaunt Air Mobility slowed rotor compound (SRC) technologies bring advanced capabilities to the both commercial markets and the military by having a single main rotor for hover, takeoff, and landing, and a high aspect ratio, small area wings for forward flight. Slowed rotor compound technology is a suite of technologies that dramatically slows the rotor as the forward airspeed increases and the wings take on the lift reducing drag, noise, and associated vibration. The configuration produces a lift to drag ratio fives times better than a helicopter which has been demonstrated with over 300 hours of test flight tests.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: Military hybrid-electric slowed rotor compound rotorcraft
• Capacity: 12 troops
• Cruise speed: 308 mph (496 km/h)
• Range: 1,610 miles (2,591 km)
• Flight Time: Unknown
• Maximum payload: 11,000 lb (4,990 kg)
• Propellers: 1 rotorblade, 2 forward flight propellers, 1 pusher propeller
• Electric Motors: 4 electric motors
• Power source: Hybrid-electric
• Fuselage: Carbon fiber composite
• Windows: Wide view windows for left, right forward and top visibility for the cockpit and round windows for the passenger compartment
• Wing: 1 high wing
• Tail: Two rear booms with a cross bar to protect ground crew and troops when on the aircraft is on the ground
• Landing gear: Unknown, possibly retractable tricycle wheeled landing gear
• Safety feature: If there is a power failure, the main rotorblade can land the aircraft from any altitude and at any speed.

Company Insights:

• Pitchbook
• Crunchbase

Resources:

• Jaunt Air Mobility website
• Jaunt Air Mobility Facebook
• Jaunt Air MobilityTwitter
• Jaunt Air MobilityYouTube Channel
• Jaunt Air MobilityLinkedIn
• Article: Astro Aerospace and Jaunt Air Mobility selected to participate in US Air Force's AFWERX High Speed VTOL Concept Challenge, eVTOL Insights, Aug. 27, 2021
• Article: Jaunt MAV55 moves forward in AFWERX HSVTOL Concept Challenge, Vertical Magazine, Aug. 25, 2021
• Article: Jaunt compete in U.S. military high-speed VTOL challenge with new MAV55 vehicle, Future Flight, Aug. 23, 2021