Prioria Robotics proposes to pursue this opportunity with an airframe that uses a single set of counter-rotating propellers, to slow, and then lift a 3D printed body containing an avionics housing and a payload volume.This configuration keeps the major components in a straight-line, making it easier to form a cluster made up of many individual units.Crucially, this configuration also eliminates the need for mechanically deployed arms, as you would have with a traditional quad-copter design.This leads directly to a more robust end-product, which is a risk area that has been identified for missile delivered UASs.The cluster will be packaged into a sabot that will be integrated, released, and decelerated from the missile by a rocket/ballute design that has previously been demonstrated for a different application within the Army SBIR program.This deceleration is a critical element of the concept, allowing the sabot to be slowed from supersonic speeds to 10s of kts for the deployment of the UAS cluster.This cluster payload system has been dubbed, Killer Bees.
