Orlik 159 Kaman K-MAX Firemax

Kaman K-MAX (another designation: K-1200) is a modern American multirole helicopter with propellers in the so-called the Flettner fixed undercarriage system. The drive is provided by a single motor Allied Signal T-53-17A-1 with 1800 HP. The machine was first flew in 1991, and its serial production lasted from 1991 to 2003, and was re-launched in 2015. Kaman K-MAX was originally developed for the needs of the US armed forces and was to perform liaison, reconnaissance and light cargo transport tasks. However, when the army withdrew from the project, the Kaman company decided to rebuild its machine and offer it on the civilian market, which ended with some success. The redesigned K-MAX is used, inter alia, to extinguish fires, transport wood or erect oil rigs. It is worth adding that in 2007, the Kaman company, in cooperation with Lockheed Martin, began work on the creation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) from a helicopter, the efforts of which were successful, and the first combat trials of such a machine took place in 2011 in Afghanistan.