Aerovironment, Inc.

Jason A Litzinger

Joel Nathan Ifill

Marc Berte

Zach Taylor

Phil Stahlhuth

Filip Dziwulski

A method of assembling a delivery payload assembly configured to be deployed from an aircraft and travel along a flight path to a predetermined landing destination includes attaching a tail-kit assembly to a first end of a payload, the tail-kit assembly including a rotor blade assembly including a plurality of rotor blades having a central axis of rotation, and a flight control and navigation system configured to control a collective pitch angle of each of the plurality of rotor blades of the rotor blade assembly, configured to control an axial thrust force of the rotor blade assembly, the axial thrust force being at an angle with respect to the central axis of rotation of the rotor blade assembly, and configured to navigate the delivery payload assembly along the flight path to the predetermined landing destination. The method further includes removing the tail-kit assembly from the payload after the payload is delivered to the predetermined landing destination.

Method of assemblying and operating an autorotating payload delivery device

An airframe-mounted package launching system including a package launching device mounted in an interior portion of an airframe structure proximate an external airframe opening, the package launching device including a launch bed configured to support a package during a launching process, and a launch assembly configured to impart a launching force to the supported package on the launch bed during the launching process. The launch assembly includes a launch carriage configured to translate under an applied force from a first locked position toward a second stopped position during the launching process, and a trigger assembly configured to hold the launch carriage in the first locked position, release the launch carriage from the first locked position when the trigger assembly receives a trigger input thereby initiating the launching process, retrieve the launch carriage from the second stopped position during a retrieval process, and translate, during the retrieval process, the launch carriage against the applied force into the first locked position.

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Canyon Lake, CA, United States of America

Jason A Litzinger