Open Call for Innovative Defense-Related Dual-Purpose Technologies/Solutions with a Clear Air Force Stakeholder Need

“Manta-Whale” shape-shifting Buoyant Flight Modules for conjoining with scaled-up Drones: A manta-ray shaped blended-wing module incorporates an internal lighter-than-air lift-gas buoyancy vessel that variably expands and contracts like the pleated abdomen of a humpback whale. The modules conjoin with a wide variety of multi-rotor, winged passenger-carrying drones that provide propulsion, navigation, automation, and passenger/payload pods. Mobodyne LLC-produced Hybrid VTOL LTA-Drone Shape-shifting Variable-Buoyancy (Static) Lift-Wing Modules (BLM) are customized to mate with meticulously chosen Personal Air Vehicles/Urban Aerial Mobility (PAV/UAM) systems to enable the conjoined vehicles’ rapid transformation between “holy grail” all-day/overnight persistent airborne floating (with optional deployable tether) and high-speed (150 knots plus) horizontal flight. Mimicking marine animals to achieve dramatic operational advantages from integrating transformable BLM blimps with compatible distributed propulsion multi-rotor PAV/UAMs, their conjoined capabilities greatly mitigate their respective standalone disadvantages. Providing airbag-like protection and multi-vehicle interconnectivity while in their airship-like buoyant configurations, the mutually-customized subsystem integration leverages the advanced systems of the host drone platforms, while delivering synergistic fuel cell and turbine fuel supply from the onboard hydrogen liftgas supply. Proprietary onboard liftgas management systems constitute the primary research and development focus of this project.