I took my dad to Willie this evening to try and catch the C-17 arriving from Nellis. When we drove by the FBO, two of these weird helos were on the ramp. Did not see them arrive and they were still tied-down when we left at 7:00 PM. I don't know much about them other than they appear to be part of an unmanned helo program involving Lockheed Martin, Kaman Aerospace and the USMC. Hopefully, more astute observers than I will chime in.
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(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6003/6020185109_fcfd4c363b_b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffwelker/6020185109/)
The Marines have been talking about using them as unmanned tactical cargo haulers, and they were supposed to start evaluating them earlier this year. As I understand it, there are two that are supposed to be part of the eval process, so this must be both of them. Super-cool catch, I'm hoping I can catch them tomorrow.
Here is a photo of the 2nd K-Max. I apologize for not getting better photos (i.e. composition, background clutter, different angles, etc). A good sized dust storm (almost Haboob status) was starting to hit us. I did not want to get my camera/lens sandblasted, so I whimped-out and ran for the truck. Hopefully Joe can catch them tomorrow and do a better job than I.
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(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6024/6020847946_512a989efb_b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffwelker/6020847946/)
PS - As I stated earlier, our original intent was to catch the C-17 arriving from Nellis. Dad I were poised at our spot on Pecos and waited nearly an hour when we noticed other arrivals being switch to one two right because of the approaching storm. We quickly packed-up and drove to the new parking lot on the north side off of Ray. Just as we got positioned in the lot, through the dim light of the dust storm, we watched that darned C-17 land on three zero left - we never should have moved. We then moved to the FBO to try and get a decent shot of departure. Unfortunately, the dust storm was in full force and the lighting totally sucked. If it hadn't been for the unexpected K-Max's, it would have been a total bust. Oh well, there is always next month.