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Aurora Flight Sciences’ small UAS is powered by a hydrogen gas cell, extending flight occasions for lengthy vary reconnaissance.
Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing firm, lately accomplished a profitable seven-hour flight take a look at of its fuel-cell-powered small uncrewed plane system (sUAS), SKIRON-XLE. The take a look at flight, performed at an airfield in Virginia, represents a big development in flight endurance for the Group 2 platform.
SKIRON-XLE is a part of Aurora’s SKIRON sUAS product line, which additionally consists of the battery-powered SKIRON-X with 3.5-hour flight endurance. SKIRON is a hybrid eVTOL platform, combining electrical vertical take-off and touchdown with fixed-wing ahead flight. It’s compliant with U.S. FAA Half 107 rules for sUAS operations, and it’s BVLOS-ready.
For the seven-hour flight, the SKIRON-XLE system included two five-liter hydrogen tanks, an Clever Vitality gas cell, a Trillium HD45 EO/IR digicam payload, and a Lithium Polymer (LiPo) auxiliary battery. Take-off weight was 54 kilos. Finishing the flight take a look at, SKIRON-XLE landed at 7.0 hours with its hydrogen gas tanks depleted and ample security margin remaining on the battery.
“With this newest flight take a look at, we’ve proven that SKIRON-XLE unlocks the longer flight occasions that prospects are searching for whereas nonetheless being straightforward to deploy and simple to function,” mentioned Jason Grzywna, senior director of merchandise at Aurora Flight Sciences. “SKIRON-XLE is a testomony to Aurora’s capabilities as an innovator and integrator of superior flight applied sciences. We look ahead to delivering this game-changing product to prospects in early 2025”
Aurora first introduced the forthcoming SKIRON-XLE, purpose-designed for lengthy vary reconnaissance, in June 2024. The automobile has as much as three payload mounting areas — nostril, stomach and under-wing — and customized payload integration is accessible. Its ruggedized floor management station options Kutta Applied sciences’ Unified Floor Management Station (UGCS) software program, and a 2.4G 10W radio and monitoring antenna supplies as much as 75 km command and management (C2) hyperlink vary.
ABOUT AURORA FLIGHT SCIENCES
Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing Firm, advances the way forward for flight by creating and making use of improvements throughout plane configurations, autonomous programs, propulsion applied sciences, and manufacturing processes. With a passionate and agile crew, Aurora delivers options to its prospects’ hardest challenges whereas assembly excessive requirements of security and high quality. Study extra at www.aurora.aero
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