UAVs

Italy's International Aviation Supply (IAS) has unveiled a vertical/short take-off and landing unmanned air vehicle dubbed Pitagora, which was flown for the first time during October in its baseline -1A configuration. The UAV has a roughly triangular-shaped lifting body, small canards and a ducted-fan engine with two counter-rotating propellers, enabling it to achieve a maximum take-off weight of 24kg (53lb), including a 4kg payload. It will deliver an endurance of up to 9h in STOL mode, and have a maximum cruise speed of 55kt (100km/h), says IAS. The 70kt Pitagora-1B will use a more powerful engine, have a 38kg MTOW and an endurance of up to 20h. Both variants are 2.4m (7.9ft) long with 2m wing spans, operating ranges of 150km (81nm) and service ceilings of 19,700ft.