I’ve had a look, he isn’t commenting. 😀
BAE are also getting an airship built and are testflying an autogyro, at the moment with a pilot, later as an UAV.
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BAE Testing Helium Airship for Civil Surveillance
By andrew chuter
Published: 15 Jul 13:15 EDT (17:15 GMT)
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FARNBOROUGH, England – BAE Systems is giving a new twist to old technology with a plan to go into the airship-building business.
The company intends to test-fly a 22-meter-long airship designed by balloonist Per Lindstrom. Known as the GA22, it is scheduled to fly for the first time later this year – probably in September.
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The vehicle, now just a technology demonstrator, could become a regular feature of the skyline, providing civil and military surveillance and communications-relay capabilities.
The modern-day zeppelin would differ from those early airship pioneers, though: The GA22 will be autonomously controlled, using technology being developed by BAE for sophisticated UAVs.
Modern airships also use a nonexplosive gas, making them much safer than the old zeppelins.
BAE is better known for its work on high-speed combat aircraft like the Typhoon, not slow-moving airships, so the company turned to Lindstrom for the design of the GA22. The company late last year purchased the rights to a series of Lindstrom designs for 200- to 500-cubic-meter airships.
The test ship is currently being put together at Lindstrom’s balloon and airship factory in Oswestry, England.
Lindstrom previously built a similar airship for the Spanish Air Force. The remotely controlled Spanish vehicle, retired from its surveillance role, now is operated by a Spanish university.
Richard Williams, BAE’s director of research and technology delivery for unmanned air systems, said the 400-cubic-meter airship now under construction in Britain will carry a mission payload of about 150 kilograms and remain airborne 16 to 20 hours, depending on the weather.
The airship, which is powered by two small 14-horsepower engines, will be fully autonomous, with its flight path programmed into the vehicle before it leaves the ground.
BAE started out looking for a platform that could provide communications relay for the military, Williams said, but quickly realized the airship could have a great future as a civil surveillance platform – policing events like the Olympics and shipping lanes like the English Channel.
Customer demonstrations could get underway as early as next March, he said, but the airship’s introduction will be paced by the civil aviation authorities’ work on the clearance of UAVs to operate in controlled airspace. That could be about 2012, Williams said – when London hosts the Olympic Games.
That flight restriction wouldn’t necessarily apply to military applications, though.
The GA22 is one of a series of new unmanned platforms unveiled by BAE. Yesterday the company announced it is leading a consortium building a General Atomics Reaper-sized UAV as a technology demonstrator in partnership with the British Ministry of Defence.
Like the GA22 and other products in the company’s quickly expanding UAV portfolio, the vehicle, known as Mantis, will use high levels of autonomy.
In its display at the air show here, BAE also showed a model of an Ambersand autogyro, which it is beginning to experiment with for potential maritime applications.
As with the GA22 and the company’s in-production conventional Herti UAV, the Ambersand has been purchased and adapted for BAE requirements.
Test-flying with a pilot on board is now under way at the company’s Warton, England, site.
BAE officials say they hope to begin trials next year of the autogiro, kitted out with autonomous flying controls.
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