AME Unmanned Air Systems (AME UAS) announces the successful first flight of the Fury 1500 Small Tactical Unmanned Aerial System (STUAS) powered by a heavy-fuel engine. The successful flight occurred April 5 at the Fort Hunter Liggett range on California's central coast.

This latest upgrade to the Fury, developed at AME UAS's facility in San Luis Obispo, CA, significantly increases the capability of the system, decreasing the logistical footprint of the system while increasing its endurance substantially.

The Fury 1500 is a long-endurance, survivable, and runway-independent Multi-INT UAS, providing the large (multi-payload) capacity needed to satisfy critical requirements for the Warfighter. The Fury UAS, which was designed for multiple special missions, had its initial flight in 2008.

"We are extremely pleased with the success of this flight, the new heavy-fuel high-endurance version of the Fury 1500 will allow for long-duration ISR and EW special missions. Everything from launch through engine performance, flight and recovery went extremely well. This serves as a testament to the hard work and talent of our team and our partners. With this high-endurance version of the Fury 1500 we will ensure significantly more 'on-target' dwell time for special mission operations," said John Purvis, President and CEO of AME UAS.

Also tested during this flight was the Robonic premium UAV Launcher System supplied by Robonic Ltd. "The enhance capability of the Robonic launcher is a key addition to the Fury Unmanned Air System," remarked Chris Arnold, Fury Senior Program Manager.

"It has been a great opportunity to work with AME UAS and to be chosen as the launcher provider for the Fury. I see this selection by AME UAS of one of our premium UAV launchers as a major opening for our company," says Juha Moisio, CEO of Robonic Ltd.

The Fury 1500 is tailored to address multiple warfighter requirements. Designed for a broad range of missions and long endurance, Fury 1500's large payload volume and power capacity can support several payloads simultaneously and provide for a flexible, multi-mission capability not currently available with other UAS platforms.

"The Fury is a very capable system in its original configuration and now, with the 1500, we can provide new and industry-leading capabilities in a relatively low-cost package. Fury 1500 leverages both our aircraft production capabilities and our advanced ISR mission management software SharkFin," added Dr. Robert Miller, AME UAS and ChandlerMay's CTO and development lead on the Fury 1500.