London-headquartered aerospace, defence and information company BAE Systems Australia has collaborated with Perth-headquartered aeronautical engineering company Innovaero to successfully fly an all-new vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) full-scale electric prototype of the uncrewed aerial system called Strix.
Designed for autonomous missions independent of a runway, including air-to-ground strike, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, flight trials were undertaken at a remote site in Australia in late October.
Image: BAE Systems
The team demonstrated the vehicle management system’s (VMS) ability to control Strix during launch, manoeuvre, sustained hover, and recovery.
Strix is designed to carry up to a 160 kilogram payload over 800 kilometres and with a collapsed footprint of 2.6 x 4.5 metres, can easily be transported in a standard shipping container.
The Program’s focus will now move from airframe testing to the hybrid-electric propulsion system, which has been under development in parallel with the prototype.
Image: BAE Systems
BAE Systems said there are opportunities for Australian SMEs and academia to get involved in the development, delivery and flight test of the prototype.
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