Russia successfully tests vertical take-off and landing cyclocopter.

A vertical take-off and landing cyclocopter drone successfully passed trials in Russia, Advanced Research Foundation CEO Andrei Grigoryev told TASS on Thursday.

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Rendering of cyclocopter (Picture source: Press service of the Advanced Research Foundation)

As its advantage compared to a helicopter, the cyclocopter features better maneuverability, considerably smaller dimensions and shielded rotors, which helps the vehicle operate close to buildings and other obstacles, Grigoryev explained.

The cyclocopter will be featured at the Army-2020 international military and technical forum, the head of the Advanced Research Foundation said.

About the Cyclocopter:

The Advanced Research Foundation’s Scientific and Technical Council approved the project of developing a vertical lift and landing drone with cycloidal rotors in late 2018.

The attempts to create aircraft with cyclorotors were made from the early 20th century. The world’s first cyclocopter developed by engineer Yevgeny Sverchkov was built in Russia in 1909. However, flying prototypes have begun to appear only over the past decade in research centers in Austria, China, the United States and South Korea. For example, South Korea built and demonstrated a cyclocopter about 1 meter in size and weighing 20 kg.

As the mathematical simulation has shown, a cyclocopter outperforms by some key parameters even multicopters that have a similar layout design. In particular, given the same dimensions and the take-off weight, a cyclocopter needs a lesser engine capacity while its payload mass is almost twice as much.

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