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What are the main differences between this and other VTOL?

A project log for 'Bird of Prey II' Super Long Range VTOL UAV

Flight time and versatility will be vastly extended using a combination of multirotor, blended wing, and hydrogen fuel cell technologies.

kendoken.do 03/16/2018 at 16:260 Comments

Other VTOL + Forward Flight projects have been successful, but have usually required external vertical thrusters in the form of multicopter framing and motivation. This method requires a lot of battery power that the craft must carry with it for the entire flight. An external framing system for the multicopter motivation leads to unnecessary and in some cases, extreme drag, reducing forward flight efficiency by 25% or more.

The Bird of Prey II incorporates the vertical thrusting gear into the wing airframe in an aerodynamically sound way that can also be used for thrust vectoring using the louvred flap covers. It also makes use of battery alternatives to achieve maximum flight time.

Some other VTOL projects use a 'plank' style glider as the base. This works well, but results in a really crazy wingspan. The blended wing design gives maximum lift and minimum wingspan for easier ground transport.

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