Medical evacuation becomes too difficult when the locations are too remote for even the best-equipped personnel to arrive quickly.
So far, helicopters have done the job in this area, but sometimes it becomes extremely difficult to fly and land while under enemy fire.
Now, the US military is considering ways to use autonomous vehicles to bring injured soldiers back from hard-to-reach sites.
Flying cars or eVTOLs could serve as its next-generation medevac transport for the U.S. military to whisk away its injured soldiers out of tight situations in wartime. While onboard, the injured troop member will be strapped into its wearable technologies for human vital signs monitoring.
This relatively new addition is still in the testing and trial stages
The personnel recovery and transport vehicle is the brainchild of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Aerospace Systems Directorate.
AFRL is working on making a “low-cost aerial platform” with simple design rules:
- No onboard pilot
- Combat radius of at least 100 nautical miles
- Speed in a horizontal flight of more than 100 knots
- Space to carry up to four military personnel
- Ability to operate in density altitude conditions of 95F at 4,000 ft
