UAVs

Adaptive Flight's (booth 1029) Hornet Micro helicopter unmanned air vehicle was to fly yesterday at Webster Field, Maryland. The rotorcraft is designed to perform close-range reconnaissance and surveillance missions.

With a mass of 2.4lb, the Hornet has a 20min-plus endurance using an electric motor to power its 28in-diameter rotor for a cruise speed of 30kt at an operating altitude of 3,500ft. With an automatic take-off and landing capability the Hornet will fly pre-programmed waypoints.

©BillyPix
Above: Adaptive Flight's president Henrik Christophersen holds his Hornet Micro rotorcraft UAV at the Webster Field demo on 10 August 2009

Its ground control station software can be loaded on to a laptop computer and its flight control system, which is PC-game based, is called FCS20.

Operators can pan and zoom the Hornet's digital camera with its picture relay in near real-time or downloaded later for post-mission analysis. Atlanta based-Adaptive says the UAV could be used for law enforcement, industrial applications, fire and rescue, and military operations. Webster Field is an annex of Patuxent River NAS.