Mark Huber is an aviation industry veteran who has worked in the flight training, aircraft sales, aircraft component, and airport development businesses. He has flight time in more than 50 different and diverse aircraft, including helicopters, aerobatic aircraft, vintage warbirds, jet fighters, business jets and turboprops, and transport-category aircraft. He has jumped out of several of these—on purpose—with a parachute. His defense and aviation journalism has been published in a variety of national and international periodicals.

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Mark Huber

Leonardo opened its new facility today in Pisa, Italy, dedicated to the development and production of the AWHERO rotary unmanned air system (RUAS). The latest variant of the 200-kg-class aircraft, the pre-production model, made its first flight in December 2018 at Nettuno outside Rome.

 


The aircraft—which features a new fuel system, composite tail rotor driveshaft, and liquid-cooled rotary engine—is designed for land and naval operations across a variety of missions including maritime and border surveillance, homeland security, pipeline and powerline monitoring, environmental monitoring, SAR support, disaster relief, and damage assessment. It has a maximum endurance of six hours.

 


Available payloads include radar, electro-optics, electronic support measures, LiDAR, and advanced communication systems. AWHERO can be equipped with deck sensor and autopilot modes for fully automatic takeoff and landing from vessels. The aircraft will be used for maritime surveillance demonstrations aboard ships during the upcoming European Defence Fund Ocean 2020 initiatives.

 


The new Pisa facility will initially employ 60. “Unmanned systems are among the pillars of our growth strategy and we plan to become a market leader in this field,” said Leonardo CEO Alessandro Profumo. “I am very pleased to open this new facility.”

News and issues relating to civil and military unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) of all kinds and sizes, including those used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), combat (unmanned combat air vehicles, or UCAVs), law enforcement, research and other applications. Of particular focus is the FAA's planned integration of UAS into the U.S. national airspace system.

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