The Center for Naval Analysis (CNA) is a research arm of the US Chief of Naval Operations. CNA did a study to find out if it was possible for a new type of UAV that could take off and land from CVA naval vessels, yet fly 500 miles and remain on station for 24 hours. As can be seen in an e-mail from Dr. Kevin Kirk of CNA, they concluded that "the only air vehicle concept that seems to be able to (in theory) satisfy these objectives is the Freewing, tilt-body concept."
Two other concepts were (i) a fixed wing UAV like the Predator, which would require auxilliary launch and recovery gear (a strong negative because it clutters the flight deck which must be kept clear), and (ii) an "endurance helicopter" (i.e. a helicopter with an oversized rotor), which would require no auxilliary gear but could only stay on station for 5 hours, rather than the 24 hours desired.
The only vehicle concept that could perform the mission and yet be self-contained for launch and recovery was, the study concluded, a scaled-up Freewing Tilt-Body. Note that this study was for a single-rotor/prop Scorpion, which yielded sufficiently short take off and landing rolls for CVA operations. Increased stability margins associated with coaxial rotor/prop were not considered, and such a point-design should result in significantly shorter, effectively near-VTOL operations similar to the current Scorpion 100-60, assuming 20 knots wind over deck.
This Freewing Tilt-Body vehicle would also be ideal for numerous commercial missions, including telecommunications and remote-sensing functions (a concept also known as "suborbital satellite").
Excerpts from the unclassified version of this study are available below:
1. The Freewing Tilt-Body Medium Altitude Endurance UAV