Textron Readies Hybrid Aerosonde Kit Ahead of At-sea Testing | Aviation International News

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Textron Readies Hybrid Aerosonde Kit Ahead of At-sea Testing

Textron has developed a kit that rapidly turns its Aerosonde UAV into a vertical take-off and landing vehicle that can operate from small vessels

The VTOL kit adds a quad-rotor lift system to the Aerosonde, removing the need for the regular catapult launcher. (photo: Textron)

By Beth Stevenson

December 23, 2018

Textron Systems is preparing to take the production-ready hybrid quad version of its Aerosonde fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle to sea in support of the U.S. Southern Seas/UNITAS exercise in 2019. Textron anticipates that this added capability will become the backbone of shipborne operations in the future. The company has now completed development of the VTOL kit for Aerosonde and is continuing to test-fly it at its Blackstone, Virginia facility, but is planning on taking it for maritime testing on a boat at Wallops Island in the near future, ahead of trialling it in front of potential customers during the next U.S. Navy’s Southern Seas deployment.

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