Cormorant UAV expands flight testing
Urban Aeronautics’ wholly owned subsidiary Tactical Robotics has expanded the flight testing of its Cormorant UAV as it works to expand the system's flight envelope.
The ongoing, untethered flight test campaign is putting modifications that enhance the flight control and multiple sensor suite through their paces. Full redundancy of all critical functions is also being implemented to improve aircraft safety and reliability.
According to the company, Cormorant now has full autonomous navigation and automatic take-off and landing (ATOL) as standard.
Upcoming tests will include increase of airspeed (currently 30kts) as well as full pattern flights over adjacent fields and return to the airfield for landing.
Cormorant, an AirMule variant, is a VTOL UAS designed for both military and civil applications. Its primary military missions will be cargo delivery, casualty evacuation, maritime missions and large scale, humanitarian relief.
In the civil market, Cormorant will target emergency response and commercial applications, eventually including parcel delivery with the ability to carry payloads of up to 500kg over distances upwards of 50km, enabling autonomous, consolidated freight delivery such as port to distribution centre.
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