Nevada-based Global Aerial Surveillance has begun building a full-scale mock-up of its Wraith 8.54m (28ft)-wingspan long-endurance unmanned air vehicle.
The mock-up of the 2.74m-long, 32kg (70lb) UAV will help refine the structure before building a prototype, flight-testing of which is expected to begin in three to four months’ time.
The company says the largely carbonfibre-composite vehicle can “jump relatively quickly from 30mph to 130mph [50km/h to 210km/h]”.
Chief executive Craig Cervantes declines to explain how the Wraith achieves such rapid acceleration, but says: “I got the idea watching Condors soaring.”
The UAV will be powered by a regular gasoline engine rather than using heavy fuel, says Cervantes, because US operations in Afghanistan have shown that gasoline’s widespread availability makes it the preferred fuel.
Construction of the full-scale Wraith follows flight testing of a scale model in January and February this year. The model is 1.37m long, with a 2.74m wingspan and weighs 2.27kg. It can carry a lightweight infrared camera as a payload.
Source: Flight International
