GoldenEye-100 UAV Successfully Completes Initial Flight Test Program

UAV NEWS

The Golden Eye 100 during an early hover test

Manassas VA - Apr 08, 2004
Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation has successfully completed its initial flight test program for the company's GoldenEye-100 unmanned aerial vehicle. Flight testing began in September 2003 and all of the GoldenEye-100's flights, including the first flight last fall, have been in fully autonomous control modes.

The initial flight test program validated the GoldenEye-100's vertical takeoff and landing capability, thrust vectoring, long-duct acoustic suppression, torsionally disconnected wings, stability and control, hovering flight, waypoint navigation, operation in civil airspace, and ability to carry payloads.

In addition, the GoldenEye-100 successfully completed a radiation detection and measurement demonstration carrying a client payload that clearly demonstrated the utility of the GoldenEye-100 for these kinds of operations.

Originally developed under DARPA's Clandestine UAV (CUAV) program, GoldenEye-100 is designed to carry a 22-pound payload, has a gross takeoff weight of 150 pounds, and is a vertical takeoff and landing UAV specifically tailored for low-cost, clandestine reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition missions.

"The focus of the initial flight test program was to demonstrate the GoldenEye-100's maneuvering stability and performance in the low speed regime of the flight envelope. The system has passed with flying colors," said Carl Schaefer, program manager for local area surveillance, Aurora Flight Sciences.

"The lessons learned over the past nine months from the GoldenEye-100's initial flight test program are being rolled into the GoldenEye-50," he added.

Aurora Flight Sciences is a supplier of unmanned air vehicle designs, components, metal and composite structures, and flight services for government, industry, and academic institutions. The company operates facilities in West Virginia, Northern Virginia, and California. Aurora specializes in high-altitude and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL).

MISSILE DEFENSE

U.S. Takes First Step To Weaponize Space

Washington (UPI) Mar 30, 2004
Washington's Missile Defense Agency has earmarked $68 million for what some believe is the first step for putting weapons in space, ABC News reported Tuesday.

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