Aurora Flight Sciences Team Selected For ER/MP First Phase

UAV NEWS

The Hunter II (pictured) is based on the highly successful Heron UAV, which is currently deployed with the armed forces of several countries. The Hunter II is a medium altitude, long endurance UAV designed to carry payloads weighing up to 1000 lbs.

Manassas VA (SPX) Feb 02, 2005
Aurora Flight Sciences has announced that it is a member of an industry team down-selected by the US Army for the Extended Range / Multi-Purpose (ER/MP) UAV program.

Aurora Flight Sciences, as part of Northrop Grumman's Hunter II team, will demonstrate the capabilities of the Hunter II Demonstrator UAVs during a flight demonstration between the down-selected teams.

The ER/MP procurement has the potential for 64 aircraft over the next 10 years, all of which would be built by Aurora and missionized by Northrop Grumman.

The Hunter II is based on the highly successful Heron UAV, which is currently deployed with the armed forces of several countries. The Hunter II is a medium altitude, long endurance UAV designed to carry payloads weighing up to 1000 lbs.

The aircraft can also carry a variety of sensors and the aircraft's under wing hard points allow the Hunter II to carry several different types of munitions. The aircraft can be operated via line-of-sight radio communication or via a SATCOM link that enables worldwide operation.

"The selection of the Northrop Grumman team gives Aurora an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the versatility of the Hunter II UAV," said Aurora Flight Sciences President John Langford. "The ER/MP requirements are very diverse, but match well with the Hunter II's capabilities."

The Hunter II collaboration is the latest development in a nine-year relationship between Northrop Grumman and Aurora, one of several small businesses among the Global Hawk program's key suppliers.

Since it began building the vertical tails for Global Hawk in 1995, Aurora has steadily increased the scope of its work on that aircraft. Today, the company manufactures almost one-third of each Global Hawk airframe including the vertical tails, aft fuselage, engine nacelle and several other sub-assemblies.

In addition to manufacturing major subassemblies for the Global Hawk, E-8C Joint Stars, EA-6B Prowler and other Northrop aircraft, Aurora has a long and rich history of design and development of high-altitude UAVs for research missions - including the Perseus B, which holds the world altitude record for a single-engined, prop-driven aircraft.

More recently, Aurora has entered the tactical UAV market with development of the GoldenEye-100 and GoldenEye-50. The GoldenEye aircraft are innovative VTOL UAVs designed for small combat team and homeland security applications. Technology from the two GoldenEye aircraft formed the basis for the Aurora concept selected by DARPA to compete for the Organic Air Vehicle II (OAV-II) procurement.

Aurora Flight Sciences will perform final assembly of the Hunter II in Starkville, Miss. Under license from Israel Aircraft Industries, which designed the Heron UAV.

UAV NEWS

Arotech's Batteries To Develop Zinc-Air Batteries For UAVs

New York (SPX) Jan 31, 2005
Arotech Corporation has announced that its Batteries and Power Systems Division has received a second development contract from a major US agency. Under the contract, Arotech's Electric Fuel Battery Corporation subsidiary will develop prototype zinc-air batteries for small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to achieve extended flight times. The funding is expected to cover development costs.

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