Kaman K-MAX
American medium-lift helicopter
The Kaman K-MAX (company designation K-1200) is a helicopter with intermeshing rotors (synchropter) designed and produced by the American manufacturer Kaman Aircraft. It first flew in 1991 and was produced for military and civilian operators.
Developed in the 1980s and 1990s, the K-MAX builds on the work of the German aeronautical engineer Anton Flettner. It was designed for external cargo load operations; later configurations supported aerial firefighting and casualty evacuation. It can lift more than 6,000 pounds (2,700 kg), which is greater than the helicopter's empty weight and almost twice as much as the competing Bell 205 despite sharing a similar engine.
Kaman sought to develop the K-MAX into an unmanned aerial vehicle with optional remote control. During the early 2010s, the United States Marine Corps deployed a pair of unmanned K-MAXes to support ground forces during the war in Afghanistan, but ultimately lost a larger contract to an unmanned version of the MD Helicopters MH-6 Little Bird.
Kaman produced 38 K-MAXes from 1991 to 2003, then shut the line as sales declined. In 2015, Kaman announced that it would restart production to fill a new commercial order for 10 aircraft. The first new K-MAX was flown in May 2017 and delivered two months later to a customer based in China.
“Kaman K-MAX” enters the record as american medium-lift helicopter. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Kaman, K-MAX and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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