[3] Carter sees its role as predominantly that of research and development with the aim of patenting[4] the aviation technological advances it makes.

[19] On 17 June 2005, the CarterCopter, the company's sole flying technology demonstrator, reached a rotorcraft milestone but crashed on the next flight.

[34] On 6 September 2013, DARPA awarded $2,231,816 to Carter for the development of a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle prototype in the TERN program ("Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node").

[35] The goal is an aircraft capable of flying by itself from a small ship (like LCS-2) with a payload of 600 pounds (270 kg) out to an operational radius of 600–900 nautical miles (1,100–1,700 km).

[36] Carter views vehicle recovery in rough seas as a significant challenge,[37] and tried unsuccessfully to partner with larger companies.

[38] First flight of a TERN demonstrator is expected in 2017,[39] but if Carter wins the final bid, the order would be too big for them, and a partner would have to build the many aircraft.

[40] Other Phase 1 recipients include AeroVironment,[41] Northrop Grumman,[42] Aurora Flight Sciences and Maritime Applied Physics.

The Paul E. Haueter Award of the American Helicopter Society for 2014 was presented to Jay Carter "for his achievements in slowed-rotor compound aircraft designs capable of providing unprecedented improvements in rotorcraft operational flexibility, efficiency, speed and safety.

[25] On 16 November 2009, the AAI Corporation (a division of Textron) signed a 40-year exclusive license agreement[46][47][48][49] with the company concerning all unmanned aircraft systems, one of which was intended to deliver 3000 pounds of cargo similar to the unmanned Kaman K-MAX, but over a future range of 1300 nautical miles compared to the demonstrated 150 nautical miles (280 km) or more of the K-MAX.

AAI intended to use this technology in two modified Shadow UAVs[52][53][54] for flight in 2012,[55] and as the basis for their proposal to DARPAs "Flying Humvee" Transformer program.

AAI also expected to use the SR/C technology for the Shadow Knight, a powered-rotor two-propeller surveillance aircraft for the US Navy[61][62][63][64] MRMUAS program that was cancelled in 2012 to save $1.5billion.

The agreement provided Carter with a US$4M segmented loan (sourced from 4A sales tax) for use as operating capital to allow increased development activity and company expansion, matching some of the AAI funding.

[89] WFEDC agreed to a Carter proposal of changing the finance agreement to match the AAI progress method, in order to continue operations.

[90][73][91] However, in August 2012, Carter offered all of the $2.7 million of hard assets, and refused transfer of intellectual property to the City as that would limit the company's ability to raise money.

Heavy tip weights made of lead, tungsten or steel are used to make jump takeoffs and keep the slowed rotor stable.