Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES
The second Lockheed Martin/Boeing DarkStar Tier III Minus unmanned air vehicle (UAV) finally flew for the first time on 29 June, more than two years after the first was destroyed in a crash at Edwards AFB, California.
The crash led to extensive upgrades to the flight control system (FCS) software and strengthening of the landing gear.
The high-altitude, long-endurance reconnaissance UAV flew for 44min, reaching 5,000ft (1,525m). The US Air Force says that the DarkStar, which completed a series of pre-programmed basic flight manoeuvres, "-successfully executed a fully autonomous flight from take-off to landing using the differential global positioning system".
It adds that the second flight could follow "within a week to 10 days", placing the next planned sortie around mid-July.
The USAF says the resumption of flight tests "-puts the programme back on track to support the US Atlantic Command-sponsored military utility assessment in 1999". Meanwhile, the US Government and the contractor team, comprising Lockheed Martin and Boeing, are anxious to catch up on some of the time lost by the two-year flight test delay.
The 21m-span UAV is unconventional in design, with no tail surfaces and a saucer-shaped fuselage to reduce the radar cross-section, and requires a highly sophisticated autonomous FCS.
Even before the crash, on its second flight on 22 April, 1996, early problems with the system had already caused a three-month delay to the start of flight testing.
Further flight testing will take place at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, also at Edwards AFB, to evaluate general handling and basic system performance. This will include assessment of the UAV's high-resolution synthetic aperture radar and other electro-optical systems.
Following completion of these tests, the USAF's Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio, will take over management of the UAV system and prepare the DarkStar for participation in exercises.
Source: Flight International
