HITE SANDS - The Zephyr High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) is an unofficial, new flight duration record for unmanned Aircraft (UAVs) drawn up. On the missile test site of the U.S. armed forces in White Sands (New Mexico, USA) flew the prototype of the company QinetiQ 54 hours at a stretch, thus expanding the results of test flights for 2005 and 2006 continues.
The Zephyr has a wingspan of 18 meters, weighs but thanks to the use of lightweight carbon fiber components, only 30 kilograms. During the day the aircraft is powered by solar energy. At night take lithium-sulfur battery, the power supply. At times, difficult weather conditions, the aircraft reached a maximum height of about 17 800 meters.
The responsible of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) documented, official world record for continuous flight of unmanned aircraft was on 22 March 2001 by the Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk set up. The construction flew 30 hours and 24 minutes at a time. The FAI was not present during the flights of the Zephyr at White Sands.
QinetiQ Limited, based in London is one of the leading aviation technology and defense companies in Britain.
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