Photo: Platform Aerospace
Platform Aerospace’s Vanilla unmanned aerial system (UAS) is renowned all over the globe when it comes to endurance and it gets better every year. The aircraft just smashed another world record.
Vanilla Unmanned is owned and operated by American company Platform Aerospace, which specializes in manufacturing, prototyping, and modifying ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) aircraft.
The latest personal best of its Vanilla UAS was a continuous flight of 8 days, 50 minutes, and 47 seconds, breaking the world record for unrefueled, internal combustion endurance of an unmanned aircraft.
It started its flight on September 24 and it was recovered this Saturday, on October 2, totaling 12,200 miles. The demonstration took place over the Edwards Air Force Base in California with Vanilla carrying two EO/IR cameras, two satellite communication systems for BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) operations, a mesh radio system, and a radar.
This is a new personal best for the aircraft, with its previous record being 5 days of continuous flight.
Vanilla is a tactical-scale Group III system that uses an internal combustion engine for propulsion, running on standard Jet-A fuel. It can carry more than 100 lbs (45 kg) of payload, including communication equipment and various sensors, and it holds official endurance records for its class. Its recent flight has been submitted for ratification as an official record as well.
According to Dan Edwards, Platform Aerospace CTO, the aircraft changed the definition of endurance, proving the immense value of inexpensive multi-day, multi-sensor coverage.
Thanks to its smaller size, Vanilla enables runway independent launch with minimal human intervention. The UAS is highly responsive to operator tasking and can fly at tactical altitudes.
Platform Aerospace plans to obtain government sponsorship to also start production of a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) variant of the aircraft, which is scheduled to take its first flight early next year.
The latest personal best of its Vanilla UAS was a continuous flight of 8 days, 50 minutes, and 47 seconds, breaking the world record for unrefueled, internal combustion endurance of an unmanned aircraft.
It started its flight on September 24 and it was recovered this Saturday, on October 2, totaling 12,200 miles. The demonstration took place over the Edwards Air Force Base in California with Vanilla carrying two EO/IR cameras, two satellite communication systems for BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) operations, a mesh radio system, and a radar.
This is a new personal best for the aircraft, with its previous record being 5 days of continuous flight.
Vanilla is a tactical-scale Group III system that uses an internal combustion engine for propulsion, running on standard Jet-A fuel. It can carry more than 100 lbs (45 kg) of payload, including communication equipment and various sensors, and it holds official endurance records for its class. Its recent flight has been submitted for ratification as an official record as well.
According to Dan Edwards, Platform Aerospace CTO, the aircraft changed the definition of endurance, proving the immense value of inexpensive multi-day, multi-sensor coverage.
Thanks to its smaller size, Vanilla enables runway independent launch with minimal human intervention. The UAS is highly responsive to operator tasking and can fly at tactical altitudes.
Platform Aerospace plans to obtain government sponsorship to also start production of a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) variant of the aircraft, which is scheduled to take its first flight early next year.
Google News