Airbus Breaks Its Own Record for Longest Unmanned Flight

Aerospace and Defense Review | Monday, July 18, 2022

Solar-powered Airbus Zephyr S has spent 26 successive days airborne, breaking the record it set in 2018. The unmanned craft flies high in the atmosphere, to bypass commercial air traffic and unfavourable weather. It flew from Arizona to Belize in Central America, and then came back again.

FREMONT, CA : Airbus recently smashed its own record for the longest flight of an unmanned aircraft. The solar-powered Airbus Zephyr S has spent 26 successive days airborne, breaking the record it set in 2018. The unmanned craft flies high in the atmosphere, to bypass commercial air traffic and unfavourable weather. Zephyr S has onboard batteries to keep it airborne overnight, indicating that it does not require to stop to re-supply fuel. Flight data of the aircraft shows it flew from the test range in Arizona to Belize in Central America, and then came back again.

A spokesperson for the Assured Position, Navigation and Timing/Space office of the United States Army Futures Command reported that the latest flight tests are intended to test the UAV's energy storage capacity, battery longevity, solar panels' efficiency, and station-keeping capabilities. This distance is an important milestone for the aircraft's capacity to travel beyond the line of sight of its operators. The UAV has flown over the range since 2018 when it set the prior record. Zephyr S transmitted out to this area and beyond-line-of-sight transmissions.

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This event is truly opening the door for practical usage of such aircraft in military applications or even disaster relief. Despite being thousands of kilometres away, Zephyr S can be handled from anywhere in the world. The aircraft can furnish imagery like a satellite, but it does not have the burden of having to orbit Earth. It can fundamentally remain in one place and provide regular updates. The UAV has another pivotal advantage over satellites, which generally cannot return to Earth after being projected. The UAV can be installed with upgraded sensors, enabling operators to switch the payloads and upgrade it with new technologies.

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