Leidos, together with Elroy Air, a developer of autonomous aircraft systems, have received approval to demonstrate their Medium Aerial Resupply Vehicle – Expeditionary Logistics (MARV-EL) prototype for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. This milestone is part of a contract to develop a drone that autonomously resupplies U.S. Marine Corps ground forces, with flight tests scheduled at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in July 2024.
The collaborative effort between Leidos and Elroy Air focuses on showcasing the capabilities of Elroy Air’s Chaparral system, a hybrid-electric vertical take-off and landing (hVTOL) cargo aircraft. “Approval to proceed to test is a major milestone and is the result of months of hard work by the team,” said Tim Freeman, senior vice president and Airborne Systems business area manager at Leidos. “We look forward to demonstrating how the Leidos and Elroy Air MARV-EL solution will help deliver a logistics advantage to the Marines and other branches of the military.”
The Chaparral system combines the benefits of wing-borne flight with electric propulsion and turbo-generation, enhancing its efficiency for autonomous operations and extended missions. It features an advanced carbon composite airframe and modular automated payload capabilities, which significantly reduce the personnel needed compared to traditional aircraft, enabling zero-touch logistics.
Dave Merrill, CEO and co-founder of Elroy Air, expressed excitement about the collaboration: “We’ve designed the Chaparral from the beginning to move cargo and resupply troops in the battlespace without putting crews in harm’s way. We look forward to demonstrating these capabilities and working toward serving the U.S. Marine Corps’ goals for expeditionary logistics.”
The MARV-EL program, under the Navy and Marine Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems program office (PMA-263), aims to provide Marine commanders with a reliable unmanned logistics asset. This asset is crucial for sustaining forces engaged in expeditionary advanced base and other distributed operations when conventional ground or manned aviation assets are not viable due to threats, terrain, weather, or other priorities.
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