Marshall has a long heritage and pedigree of design, testing and certifying structural composite platforms and structures for aerospace and defence. An area of enduring expertise, we have produced airframe structures and vehicles in collaboration with BAE Systems for a number of development UAVs including HERTI.
Following the production of unmanned vehicles including CORAX, RAVEN and MANTIS, HERTI was developed with BAE Systems as a multi-purpose UAV with our help. An established structure from a previous design, this was re-engineered to double the all up weight. Producing a mock up in less than 2 months, the engineering activity was focused initially on reverse engineering an established OML to accommodate the systems and sensors required by an Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capable UAV.
The design and stress of the airframe was based upon revised loads through a process of reverse engineering geometry creating an EASA certifiable design. Having designed suitable tooling, prototype airframes were subjected to a rigorous series of static and dynamic testing to prove their performance within the Marshall mechanical test facility. Production airframe structures were manufactured and assembled including the fuselage, wings, cowlings and landing gear and delivered to BAE Systems on time and to schedule.
Working closely with BAE Systems throughout the design process allowed production of composite structures and mechanical systems which produced a vehicle able to be flight demonstrated 18 months from contract award.
Working with a breadth of capabilities and experience within Marshall, a tailored solution to bespoke customer demands can be achieved to deliver a product to be proud of. Importantly, we are now equally focused on bringing the very latest modelling design and Model Based System Engineering (MBSE) techniques to the next generation of design for complex Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV). The application of digital capabilities allows rapid design iterations that embed key characteristics such as Low Observability (LO), thermal management, Low Cost Manufacture and modularisation with reduced maintenance needs.
