Outrider tactical unmanned air vehicle (UAV) has been severely damaged in a crash during a test flight, just days after it officially completed a two-year demonstration programme for the US Army.
The accident was witnessed by Danish military officials who were being briefed by Alliant Techsystems on the vehicle's capabilities.
The crash occurred about 5km from the Glasscock, Texas, USA test facility and 3min into a test flight on 10 August. The Outrider was at 2,000ft (600m) when its UAV Engines 801R rotary powerplant cut out. Rescue parachute deployment was initiated at about 500ft. The drogue parachute deployed, but appeared to become entangled on the tail surface, and the main parachute did not deploy. The airframe and wings suffered "significant damage", Army officials say.
Alliant says the engine failure coincided with the activation of an independent flight termination system in a chase aircraft. The company believes this is the most likely cause of the incident, which is under investigation. The flight termination system is used to support out-of-visual-range flight test operations and is not part of the operational Outrider system. The US Army is preparing to deploy two operational Outriders.
Source: Flight International
