GROB SAYS that it is "evaluating the commercial possibilities" of putting the G520 Egrett high-altitude aircraft back into limited production.
The programme began with the aim of developing a high-altitude aircraft for the German air force, but was later cancelled as part of German post-reunification budget cuts. Four out of the five original airframes are now operational again, with two single-seaters being flown in the USA, one in Germany, and a two-seat G520T in Australia.
The company says that interest in further airframes has come from military and commercial sectors in several countries, sometimes following the failure of unmanned aircraft to satisfy performance and flexibility criteria.
One of the US aircraft is operated by Aurora Flight Sciences, on a US Department of Energy programme of climate research. The other US-based aircraft is operated by original contractor E-Systems of Greenville, Texas, and is jointly owned with Grob.
The third single-seater is owned by STN Atlas of Bremen, for use in an undisclosed test and surveillance programme, says Grob, while the two-seater has been bought by Airborne Research Australia, for atmospheric and geophysical research missions.
The G520 has five world records for altitude with and without payload, and time to climb.
Source: Flight International