Lockheed Martin and Kaman are pairing large- and small-rotor unmanned helicopters for fighting fires.

In a demonstration announced this week, Lockheed's Indago quad-rotor system searched for and found a fire hotspot with its electro-optical/infrared gimbaled imager and transmitted its location and other data to a controller, who then directed an unmanned K-Max helicopter to fill a basket-like device with water from a pond, travel to the fire's location and dump water onto the flames.

In just one hour, Lockheed said, the K-Max dropped 24,000 pounds of water.

The Indago quad rotor is just 32x32x37 inches in size and weighs only 5 pounds. The K-Max, used in Afghanistan to resupply troops, is more than 13 feet high, more than 51 feet long and can carry a payload of more than 6,000 pounds.

K-Max is made by Kaman, features a Lockheed Martin mission suite and is equipped with its own EO/IR equipment.

"The unmanned K-MAX and Indago aircraft can work to fight fires day and night, in all weather, reaching dangerous areas without risking a life," said Dan Spoor, vice president of Aviation and Unmanned Systems at Lockheed Martin's Mission Systems and Training business.

"This demonstration signifies the potential for adapting proven unmanned systems and their advanced sensors and mission suites to augment manned firefighting operations, more than doubling the amount of time on station," said Kaman Chairman, President and CEO Neal Keating.