An air vehicle is provided including a body, a primary propulsion unit mounted to the body, and a set of secondary propulsion units mounted to the body. The primary propulsion unit includes at least one primary rotor and is configured for providing at least a majority of a total vertical thrust required for enabling vectored thrust flight to the air vehicle. The set includes at least three said secondary propulsion units. The set is configured for providing variable vectored thrust at least sufficient for generating control moments for stability and control of the air vehicle. The set of secondary propulsion units includes at least one secondary propulsion unit pivotably mounted with respect to the body about a respective pivot axis and configured for pivoting about the pivot axis between at least a vertical mode and a horizontal mode, to respectively provide a thrust vector at least in a range between a vertical thrust vector and a horizontal thrust vector. The pivotable secondary propulsion units are further configured for providing at least horizontal propulsion to the air vehicle at least when not in vertical mode.

An air vehicle is provided including a body, a primary propulsion unit mounted to the body, and a set of secondary propulsion units mounted to the body. The primary propulsion unit includes at least one primary rotor and is configured for providing at least a majority of a total vertical thrust required for enabling vectored thrust flight to the air vehicle. The set includes at least three said secondary propulsion units. The set is configured for providing variable vectored thrust at least sufficient for generating control moments for stability and control of the air vehicle. The set of secondary propulsion units includes at least one secondary propulsion unit pivotably mounted with respect to the body about a respective pivot axis and configured for pivoting about the pivot axis between at least a vertical mode and a horizontal mode, to respectively provide a thrust vector at least in a range between a vertical thrust vector and a horizontal thrust vector. The pivotable secondary propulsion units are further configured for providing at least horizontal propulsion to the air vehicle at least when not in vertical mode.

The operational efficiency of a rotorcraft in cruising. The rotary wing aircraft, according to the present disclosure, has a main body and a plurality of motors provided in the main body for rotating each of the rotors, which are parallel to a reference plane. When the main body is inclined with respect to one direction of travel and flying in the direction of travel, the rotational speed of each of the plurality of motors is approximately the same.

The operational efficiency of a rotorcraft in cruising. The rotary wing aircraft, according to the present disclosure, has a main body and a plurality of motors provided in the main body for rotating each of the rotors, which are parallel to a reference plane. When the main body is inclined with respect to one direction of travel and flying in the direction of travel, the rotational speed of each of the plurality of motors is approximately the same.

The aircraft includes a fuselage, a front wing and a rear wing provided to extend laterally from the fuselage for generating lift during cruise, a boom 18 supported by the front wing and the rear wing to be spaced apart from the fuselage, and at least one VTOL rotor that is supported on the boom, and having one or more blades for generating thrust in a vertical direction during take-off and landing, wherein the boom has a shape in a top view in which a barrel forms a curvature in a direction away from the fuselage with respect to a front end and a rear end while extending in a front-back direction, and has a cross section in a front view in which an upper side forms a round curvature, the boom being tapered from an upper side from a lower side, and the lower side is substantially flat.

The aircraft includes a fuselage, a front wing and a rear wing provided to extend laterally from the fuselage for generating lift during cruise, a boom 18 supported by the front wing and the rear wing to be spaced apart from the fuselage, and at least one VTOL rotor that is supported on the boom, and having one or more blades for generating thrust in a vertical direction during take-off and landing, wherein the boom has a shape in a top view in which a barrel forms a curvature in a direction away from the fuselage with respect to a front end and a rear end while extending in a front-back direction, and has a cross section in a front view in which an upper side forms a round curvature, the boom being tapered from an upper side from a lower side, and the lower side is substantially flat.

A rotary wing aircraft that extends along a roll axis between a nose region and an aft region, comprising: at least one first single-blade rotor and at least one second single-blade rotor which are spaced apart from each other along the roll axis; at least one first electric machine and at least one second electric machine which are at least configured to drive in motor mode the at least one first single-blade rotor and the at least one second single-blade rotor for generating lift in hover condition of the rotary wing aircraft; at least one propulsion device that is at least configured to generate forward thrust in forward flight condition of the rotary wing aircraft; and a fixed-wing arrangement that is at least configured to provide lift in the forward flight condition.

A rotary wing aircraft that extends along a roll axis between a nose region and an aft region, comprising: at least one first single-blade rotor and at least one second single-blade rotor which are spaced apart from each other along the roll axis; at least one first electric machine and at least one second electric machine which are at least configured to drive in motor mode the at least one first single-blade rotor and the at least one second single-blade rotor for generating lift in hover condition of the rotary wing aircraft; at least one propulsion device that is at least configured to generate forward thrust in forward flight condition of the rotary wing aircraft; and a fixed-wing arrangement that is at least configured to provide lift in the forward flight condition.

A method of controlling an overly determined actuator system that has a first number of actuators (α.sub.i) which is greater than a second number of the actuators needed to perform a predetermined physical task. The method includes: automatically controlling the first number of actuators by a control unit (CU) for jointly performing the predetermined physical task; repeatedly checking a functional state of the first number of actuators to detect an actuator failure of any one thereof; in case of any detected actuator failure, generating at least one emergency signal (EM) representative of an adapted physical task to be performed by a remaining number of the actuators. The emergency signal is generated based on kinematics of the actuator system, on known physical capacities at least of the remaining actuators, and optionally on a computational performance model of the actuator system. The adapted physical task includes activating each of the remaining actuators below a predetermined threshold of maximum physical load on a respective actuator and activating the ensemble of remaining actuators in a way to prevent further damage to the actuator system. An emergency control system and an aircraft are also provided.

A stoppable rotor, which includes a first and second blade and rotates about a substantially vertical axis, is stopped with the first blade pointing forward and the second blade pointing backward while the aircraft is mid-flight. Anti-torque is provided using a set of one or more combination rotors in a first mode of operation in order to counter torque produced by the stoppable rotor when the stoppable rotor is rotating where the set of combination rotors rotate about a substantially longitudinal axis. Forward thrust is provided using the set of combination rotors in a second mode of operation when the stoppable rotor is not rotating.