Unmanned aerial vehicle with counter-rotating ducted rotors and shrouded pusher-prop

An unmanned aerial vehicle comprising:

• a fuselage having a partial toroidal forward portion, an aft portion, a top surface, a bottom surface and a duct extending between the top and bottom surfaces, the fuselage having a longitudinal axis;
• two counter-rotating rotor assemblies mounted within the duct one rotor assembly being positioned vertically above the other;
• a gearbox mounted between the rotor assemblies;
• a plurality of support struts for supporting the rotor assemblies and the gear box within the duct;
• at least one engine mounted to the fuselage and adapted to rotate the rotor assemblies, the engine including a drive shaft which is engaged with the gearbox, the drive shaft extending through a support strut;
• a pusher prop assembly mounted to the aft portion of the fuselage in longitudinal alignment with the two counter-rotating rotor assemblies, the aft portion of the fuselage having a top surface and a bottom surface, at least a portion of the top surface angling downward toward the pusher prop assembly, at least a portion of the bottom surface angling upward toward the pusher prop assembly, the pusher prop assembly adapted to provide thrust along the longitudinal axis, the pusher prop assembly including a drive shaft engaged with the at least one engine, and a plurality of blades attached to the drive shaft, the blades rotating about an axis that extends between the two rotor assemblies;
• a shroud mounted to the aft portion of the fuselage around the blades and operative for channeling air passing through the blades in a substantially aft direction;
• and
• a pair of wings removably attached to the fuselage, each wing including a fixed stub portion and a flaperon hinged to the fixed portion, the flaperon being movable with respect to the fixed portion.

An unmanned aerial vehicle comprising:

• a fuselage having a partial toroidal forward portion, an aft portion, a top surface, a bottom surface and a duct extending between the top and bottom surfaces, the fuselage having a longitudinal axis;
• two counter-rotating rotor assemblies mounted within the duct, one rotor assembly being located above the longitudinal axis and the other rotor assembly being located below the longitudinal axis;
• a plurality of support struts for supporting the rotor assemblies within the duct;
• a gearbox located between the counter-rotating rotor assemblies, the gearbox being engaged with the rotor assemblies for transmitting rotary motion thereto;
• at least one engine having a drive shaft which engages with the gearbox;
• a pusher prop assembly mounted to the aft portion of the fuselage in longitudinal alignment with the two counter-rotating rotor assemblies, the aft portion of the fuselage having a top surface and a bottom surface, at least a portion of the top surface angling downward toward the pusher prop assembly, at least a portion of the bottom surface angling upward toward the pusher prop assembly, the pusher prop assembly adapted to provide thrust along the longitudinal axis, the pusher prop assembly including a drive shaft engaged with the gearbox, and a plurality of blades attached to the drive shaft, and adapted to rotate about an axis that is substantially co-linear with the longitudinal axis;
• and
• a shroud mounted to the aft portion of the fuselage about the blades and operative for channeling the air passing through the blades in a substantially aft direction.