AeroMech Engineering completes "Fury" UAS Phase 1 Flight Tests

Camp Roberts, CA – On September 18th 2008, AeroMech Engineering successfully completed Phase 1 flight tests of its Fury UAS™ and verification of the supporting Ground Control Station. This flight test sequence culminated in fully autonomous flights at the Navy’s Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely-Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) at Camp Roberts, California. Operations were conducted using AeroMech Engineering’s STANAG 4586 SharkFin™ ground station software.

Patrick Stewart, Flight Test Director, added, “Due to the inherent control system challenges of operating a tailless vehicle, we relied heavily on computational fluid dynamics and hardware-in-the-loop simulations prior to our first flights. The vehicle performed as expected and we were able to demonstrate very solid autonomous control and flying qualities.”

Allen Gardner, Mission Systems Manager, said of the recent milestone, “Because Fury™ was designed to exploit the unique survivability algorithms and features within Sharkfin™, this demonstration shows that AeroMech is ready to provide a complete end-to-end system to our customers seeking a survivable UAS”.

To date, the Fury program has logged more than 20 flights. Phase 2 testing is expected to begin immediately, and will include custom payload integration testing and capability demonstrations of both SharkFin™ and the Fury UAS™ to potential customers.

Designed and funded entirely by AeroMech Engineering, the Fury™ is a high-endurance UAV that provides large payload capacity in a small, affordable package. The vehicle is designed around a Cosworth heavy-fuel engine and an efficient onboard power generator capable of producing 400 Watts of payload power. Fury™ is designed to support missions where radar, visual, infra-red, and acoustic detection is to be avoided.

About AeroMech Engineering, Inc.

AeroMech Engineering, headquartered in San Luis Obispo CA, is a leading provider of Unmanned Aircraft Systems. The company specializes in the design, test, production, and support of unmanned systems. After designing and producing the US Air Force’s first small UAV system, the company has since delivered over 1000 aircraft to U.S. and Allied forces. Unique in the industry for its small size and breadth of capability, AeroMech focuses on innovative turnkey solutions to meet unique mission and customer requirements.