The Aurora’s Excalibur Unmanned Aircraft was flight successful for the first time on 2009. The Excalibur vertical take off and landing (VTOL) UAS was developed under a contract with the US Armys Aviation Technology Directorate and flight tested at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland on June 24, 2009. Excalibur's unique configuration enables both VTOL and high-speed flight modes at speeds up to 400 knots; thereby providing the Warfighter with a survivable capability for quick response weapons delivery or logistics resupply from remote, austere forward operating bases or from air cable ships operating in the littorals.
Excalibur is a revolutionary hybrid electric-powered UAS designed to carry small precision munitions to support forward deployed units requiring strike capability. During the flight test, the aircraft utilized Rockwell Collins Athena 511 small form factor flight control and navigation system to autonomously take off, execute heading control test points and land. Additional flight tests with increasingly longer durations and more complex flight profiles are planned later this calendar year. The Athena 511 is a member of the Rockwell Collins Athena product line of highly sophisticated, compact and affordable flight control, INS, GPS, air data, attitude, heading, reference system with well over 300000 operational flight hours.
Mission planning and operator command and control was achieved using Aurora's portable Ground Control Station (GCS) architecture that features STANAG 4586 compliance and ensures down stream interoperability with the Army's One System compatible GCS. The Excalibur UAS was developed by Aurora for the US Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate and the Office of Naval Research.
Aurora Flight Sciences designs and builds robotic aircraft and other advanced aerospace vehicles for scientific and military applications. Aurora is headquartered in Manassas, VA and operates production plants in Bridgeport, WV and Columbus, MS and a Research and Development Center in Cambridge, MA.
