Conceptual New Fleet Logistics System at Work

A CarterCopter Heliplane Transport (CCH-T) prepares to make its daily delivery and retrieval of a NA-E shipping container far at sea. US Navy personnel scheduled for shore leave wait on deck to catch a ride as their replacements arrive onboard the daily shuttle flight.

Why now? The NA-E concept is based on using a VTOL aircraft able to haul 25 tons of cargo at high speeds 1,500 miles to sea, hover for one-half hour and return to shore without refueling. The design for such an aircraft did not exist until recently.

The CCH-T: CarterCopters, L.L.C. (CC) began flying a prototype hi-tech gyroplane as a proof-of-concept demonstrator in September 1998. In May 2000, CC designed the CCH-T, which takes off, hovers, and lands as a helicopter. It converts from helicopter mode to CC gyroplane mode at 100 mph to maximize flight efficiencies. The CCH-T has the cargo capacity, speed and range equivalent to a C-130J-30 Hercules. No new technology is required except what is flying on the CC gyroplane prototype. The design principals can be used to build an efficient VTOL transport of almost any size.

Current USN Supply System: The present fleet-wide storage and distribution system remains in use because (until now) there was no air-express alternative. Backup repair parts and supplies worth billions of dollars are stored onboard ships in case of need. Much of the storage becomes outdated before being used and must be replaced at high cost. Needed items not found in ship storage must first be air-delivered by C-2A Greyhound to an aircraft carrier and then re-routed by helicopter to the requesting ship.

Proposed NA-E System: A civil air-express (CA-E) system (see list below) would dovetail its operations to the proposed NA-E system at transshipment locations similar to APOs used by the US Postal Service for routing overseas military mail.

USN ships would use satellite communications to transmit a list each day of needed parts and supplies. The CA-E system would deliver the needed items to the designated transshipment location where the items would be sorted into the NA-E container bound for the ship in need.

NA-E (a subsidiary of the CA-E company) would be under USN contract and would use its proprietary know-how to ensure the system ran smoothly and efficiently. The CCH-Ts could be owned by the USN and contracted to NA-E. Ex-USN and/or USN Reserve pilots under contract to NA-E could fly the rotorcraft. An option would make NA-E a USN operation, with the CCH-Ts being flown by active duty USN pilots.

Current CA-E Companies: Companies such as UPS, Airborne Express, Emery Worldwide, Federal Express and Bax Global have developed computer systems to track millions of parcels and logistic systems to deliver the parcels on-time worldwide.