The Air Force Research Laboratoryโs (AFRL) Aerospace Systems Directorate successfully flew General Atomics’ XQ-67A uncrewed air vehicle on Feb. 28, 2024, at the General Atomics Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility near Palmdale, California.
The goal for the AFRL is to use a standard airframe with standard substructures and systems to eventually advance drone designs quicker than ever before. This would include equipping them with an Off-Board Weapon Station (OBWS) for combat or the Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS) depending on the mission. Think of it as a modular drone platform of sorts with pieces that can quickly and easily be swapped out.
- ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐๐๐ฒ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ - The drone is lightweight and compact, weighing...
- ๐ก๐ผ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ด๐ถ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ - Under 249 g, FAA Registration and Remote ID are not required if...
- ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐น๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ง๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ - Enjoy longer flights with DJI Mini 2 SE, which offers a 31-min max flight...
The main objectives here are to validate an open aircraft system concept for hardware and software and to demonstrate rapid time-to-market and low development cost. We wanted to design both of those but figure out how much of the two you can make common so we could follow this chassis genus species type of approach,” said Doug Meador, autonomous collaborative platform capability lead with AFRLโs Aerospace Systems Directorate.