I have been following the Lockheed Martin/Kaman Aerospace unmanned project since it started and blogged about it many times. It is unglamorous but exactly the kind of transformative project that often slips underneath the radar.

In February this year, it was granted an indefinite extension for its development in Afghanistan.

This basically means, its all good, its all working, can we carry on using it please.

The title is slightly incorrect, it is actually optionally manned, this provides much greater flexibility than one or the other.

A simple single mission aircraft in a complex multi mission world.

This is translated into operating costs, the US Navy have confirmed that the unmanned K-Max costs less than $1,400 per hour, reportedly an order of magnitude less than other helicopters and with a 90% plus availability rate with low maintenance costs.

Read more at Kaman Aerospace