Sikorsky has started tethered flight testing of its Cypher II unmanned air vehicle (UAV). The next milestone will be a free flight at Sikorsky's West Palm Beach, Florida, test centre by the end of this quarter. Development of the shrouded rotor configuration UAV was started for the US Marine Corps, but the programme is now under the auspices of the US Army Night Vision Labs, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Cypher II has a 3m (10ft) span and weighs 110kg (250lb) at mission weight. Although the UAV can hover, it also flies at up to 115kt (215km/h).
Source: Flight International
