Dornier GEAMOS / SEAMOS
In GEAMOS and SEAMOS it was unmanned free-flying rotor platforms of Dornier , in developing the program lapwing , a bound rotor platform. GEAMOS represents Ge fechtsfeld- A ufklärungs- M edium and O rtungs- S ystem and SEAMOS for Se e- A ufklärungs- M edium and O rtungs- S ystem. Dornier developed the GEAMOS own funds, looked for both systems a market and had with the German requisitioners army and navy also advocates. When the GEAMOS tests were successful, the Federal Ministry of Defense financed further developments and tests for take-off and landing on heavily fluctuating ship decks. The GEAMOS development and tests ran until 1993, the development of the SEAMOS until 1998 and the tests until 2002.
If the lapwing had found that the flight altitude of 300 m, which was limited by the rope, was now too low, they wanted to offer aircraft that could carry sensors up to 4000 m high, which meant quasi-optical visibility of up to 250 km.
The army could have cleared up the enemy battlefield to this depth. The Navy was looking for a ship-based, high-flying and small drone for OTHT ( O ver T he H orizon T argeting, targeting above the horizon) for their planned corvettes and other smaller ships that could not have a helicopter on board.
description
GEAMOS
The GEAMOS program began at Dornier under the name PRIAMOS, derived from the term primary reconnaissance, but which has been abolished in the German armed forces. The Kiebitz's aircraft was out of the question for this application, it was optimized for an altitude of 300 m. Each 100 meters of rope weighed almost 30 kg. The aircraft could have climbed another 500 meters, but then it was at the performance limit and would have had no more capacity for payload and a tank. The take-up drum was also at its optimal limit. A more powerful aircraft was needed for the intended unrestrained altitudes of up to 4000 meters.
Since the BMVg did not want to finance a new development / scaling up to a higher payload of the Kiebitz system, was not prepared to part-finance it and Dornier was short of money because of the Do 328 program, they looked for an inexpensive alternative in the form of an existing rotor system, the one wanted to modify everywhere for this application.
In the 1960s, the US Navy procured more than 700 units of the unmanned and free-flying QH-50 system , equipped 120 ships with this helicopter as a reusable torpedo carrier to extend the weapon range and deployed it from the ships. Mechanically reliable, the system suffered from the limited capabilities of the remote control and flight control technology of the time. Many devices were lost because the pilots lost their line of sight to the aircraft and they "drifted away". The US Navy soon decommissioned the systems, as weapon technology made such aids superfluous with the advent of guided missiles. Another problem was the take-off and landings on the sometimes violently swaying ship decks.
Dornier managed to enter into a license agreement with the then manufacturer of the QH-50, the company Gyrodyne in the USA, and to acquire 2 used QH-50 systems, whereby only the approval by the American government was complex and took a long time. In its performance class, this system was a perfect match for the tasks at hand, and no major modifications were necessary. It was sufficient for a demonstrator; a new development was planned for the operational system.
However, only the dynamic system was used, i.e. H. Rotor blades, rotor gearbox and engine. The flight control system (inertial navigation, on-board computer and controller), the avionics, data link and general equipment such as hydraulics and electrics were completely renewed. And a radar sensor was installed.
The first test flights were successfully carried out - tied up with wire ropes - at Friedrichshafen Airport - so required by the licensing authority . As with the lapwing, LCT was won over to a joint venture in France . The company provided the modified Ro 2 MTI radar, a forerunner of their Orchidee / HORIZON, for this project. Dornier integrated this sensor in a radome under the platform like the lapwing. The sensor data as well as the regulation and control signals were transmitted to and from the ground station via radio link data link. The aircraft could thus leave the take-off area within the limits of the link range. Thanks to GPS and the precise inertial navigation system on board, the pilot no longer needed a line of sight to the aircraft on the ground, and was shown the location and flight direction on a digital map. A survey / localization by the ground penetrating radar introduced by the army was also considered, if the tests should show the necessity.
The problem of altitude and carrying a usable payload with the necessary flight endurance was solved with this device and system approach. The platform could have climbed up to 4000 m.
Dornier discontinued the program in 1993 even before the unbound free flights began. The BMVg and the air force had finally decided to develop and procure the LAPAS . Public budget funds for airborne reconnaissance systems were thus tied up for a long time, and Dornier's hopes of a development contract were finally broken. The Air Force promised to be able to fully fulfill the battlefield reconnaissance with the LAPAS system, which the army has repeatedly requested. This was doubted by experts and Dornier. The army still has this intelligence gap, because the LAPAS project was later also discontinued in 1993. As a result of reunification, the Bundeswehr was in the process of restructuring, and with the fall of the Cold War, many weapon systems were no longer necessary or were called into question. The Dornier works were also heavily restructured and restructured.
At the time, Dornier was already an independent company, part of the DASA network and Jürgen Schrempp was running his DOLORES rationalization and restructuring program with many layoffs. The DASA helicopter division also claimed the GEAMOS program. Here, however, you only saw the helicopter and criticized that the system did not come from in-house. The DASA did not approve any further funds of its own to Dornier, Dornier put the project on hold and later discontinued it entirely. The device was later converted and used for the SEAMOS project.
Technical details
It was version D of the QH-50 that was used here. Like the Lapwing with Do 32 , the QH-50 also had a manned forerunner at Gyrodyne. The system has a counter-rotating coaxial rotor with two rotor blades each. The rotor diameter is 6.1 m. According to the technology of the time, the rotor blades consisted of a metal spar with wooden ribs and metal planking. It was driven mechanically by a Boeing Turboshaft turbine . Since the counter-torque of the rotor was canceled out by the counter-rotating rotors, a tail rotor was not necessary. The fuselage structure of approx. 2 m in length carried the gearbox in the middle, the engine flanged to the side. The auxiliary systems and radar components were installed as a counterweight on the other side. Dornier replaced the four-legged landing gear with two runners with a radome and radar antenna in the middle under the rotor. The permissible total weight was 1060 kg. Fuel was on board for three quarters to an hour of flight time. However, there was no longer any capacity for additional payload if one wanted to use the 4000 meters altitude. The system was supplemented on the ground with a pilot's steering station, radar control station and antennas for data link / telemetry. With two aircraft that took turns, one could have realized 24 hour surveillance and reconnaissance a day. A new and somewhat larger system with higher performance was planned for operational use. The Henschel aircraft plants Kassel tried here for the contract to develop and manufacture the rotor and dynamic system.
SEAMOS
The planners of the Braunschweig class corvette had heard of the successful GEAMOS experiments and asked Dornier for a technical proposal for the drones to be used on the corvette for surveillance and reconnaissance beyond the horizon. The planners knew the previous problems with take-off and landing with the QH-50 on the American ships and demanded the assurance / proof that take-offs and landings are possible in rough seas. Dornier saw this problem technically solved with a system that analyzed the deck movement, recorded the position of the drone ready for take-off or landing with a laser and automatically released or landed the drone at the right moment. The drone was held on the deck by electromagnets or released. This system worked in the laboratory, but the BMVg required operational evidence, which it also commissioned.
Dornier removed the GEAMOS sensor again, re-equipped the high landing gear of the QH-50 and called the device the VTOL demonstrator. A used pilot training simulator was purchased from the SAS , the cabin of which was dismantled and replaced by a piece of ship landing deck. A programmable ship deck simulator had thus been created. The drone's landing gear got 4 magnetic footplates, and electromagnets were embedded in the deck. The motion analysis device with laser was attached to a boom on the deck simulator, and the drone received the counter system.
Dornier made successful preliminary tests with it and in 1999 demonstrated the function of the BMVg and planners in a series of 10 landings and take-offs one after the other with variously strong to extreme simulated ship movements on the ship deck simulator. The motion analysis and landing system in particular proved to be a pioneering control technology. A computer calculated exactly the rate of descent from the deck movement and position of the aircraft, controlled this automatically so that the device touched down at the moment of the horizontal deck and was automatically fixed by the electromagnets.
The Federal Office for Defense Technology and Procurement then issued a follow-up order for the further development of the aircraft. The first thing to do was to increase the payload and reduce fuel consumption. In addition, the aircraft got the lighter Allison 250 engine, which is more economical in terms of consumption , as it was also in the Bo 105 and thus already introduced to the Bundeswehr in terms of spare parts supply. The flight time increased to 1.5 to 2 hours. With two devices, one would have alternately ensured 24-hour operation a day. This aircraft was only then given the name SEAMOS. The preliminary tests in Friedrichshafen with the new engine were successful. For the next step to build the rotor system as the Gyrodyne system was no longer available i.e. H. Eurocopter offered to develop new equipment and improve its efficiency and rotor thrust . Since these costs exceeded the budget for the corvette, it was decided to have the corvette built without the drones and in 2002 the further development of the SEAMOS was suspended until further notice.
At a later demonstration, the aircraft was damaged because it fell from the inclined top surface of the simulator in the event of an unintentional power failure of the electromagnets, which were not double-protected for cost reasons, while stationary. In view of the unresolved need, EADS / Dornier no longer carried out the repair. For the time being, the corvettes will not receive any drones, but the requirements such as hangar and landing deck have been met.
In the meantime, EADS is continuing the program under the Sharc name . This system of an unmanned helicopter drone is currently being tested (2008) and is to be offered for operational use / troop testing in 2009. Like the Seamos, this is also a system with a coaxial rotor and it uses the landing system previously developed by Seamos under the name ATOL (Automatic Take-Off & Landing).
Technical specifications
| Parameter | GEAMOS | SEAMOS |
|---|---|---|
| Hull length |
2 m
|
|
| Trunk width |
1.7 m
|
|
| Height above everything | 3.5 m |
3.2 m
|
| Rotor diameter |
6.1 m
|
|
| Number of rotor blades |
2 × 2 coaxial rotors rotating in opposite directions
|
|
| maximum take-off weight |
1060 kg
|
|
| Engine | Turboshaft Boeing T50-BO-12 with 365 SHP | Turboshaft Rolls-Royce / Allison 250 C20 B with 425 SHP |
| Flight endurance | up to 1 hour |
up to 2 hours
|
| maximum altitude | 4790 m |
over 5000 m
|
literature
- Herbert Friedl, Holger Schütte, Priamos demonstrator for primary reconnaissance and location, Dornier Post No. 2, 1987, ISSN No. 0012-5563 Thu P / 2 87 D1 5500.
