Archer has announced two acquisitions, which it said are to support what it calls “growing demand from major allied defence programs worldwide”. Although much of the motivation may come from the United States Department of Defense announcement that it has allocated USD 13.4 billion for autonomous military systems, which presumably includes a sizeable allocation for UAVs.
Archer said demand has driven its acquisition of the Overair portfolio of patents, specifically those for its tilt rotor projects. The company has also hired a number of what it calls critical employees from Overair. For some time, there have been reports that Archer has experienced some performance issues with the lift rotors on its Midnight prototypes, specifically in the transition phase. This is evidenced by repeated changes to the lift rotor configuration from four-blade to static in wingborne flight, and continuing to rotate. So, it prompts the obvious question: Is Archer considering a radical redesign that includes a move to tilt rotors? It is a question RotorHub International has put to Archer.
In addition to the Overair announcement, Archer has also revealed the acquisition of assets from Mission Critical Composites, a specialised defence composite manufacturer based in Southern California. Archer said this will allow it to “bring core composite fabrication capabilities in-house, supporting its defence programme needs for rapid prototyping and iteration”.