Aurora Flight Sciences' Centaur optionally piloted aircraft (OPA) kicked off its flight test programme on 22 January from Manassas, Virginia, the company says. Two additional flights have already been conducted.
The first fully-configured Centaur was flown with pilot and test director Thomas Washington and flight engineer Jason Fine aboard the modified Diamond DA42 NG. Fully unmanned flights will begin later this year, at a test range to be announced.
"The first flight served mainly to validate that all the hardware and software were working as planned," explains Washington. "Following a careful review of the data, we conducted a second flight on the 24th and a third flight on the 25th, during which all the basic UAV flight modes were turned on and carefully monitored. The initial results look fantastic."
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Centaur will gradually expand its flight envelope over the next several months, leading to fully automatic take-offs and landings by late spring. The aircraft will then be fitted with an electro-optical payload and a high-bandwidth data link to demonstrate intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability.
Aurora says it is currently taking orders for Centaur OPA for delivery in the second half of 2011.
Source: Flight International
