EON

Zephr Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Could Be Huge Radical Advance

Yuma, Arizona- The long standing global world record for unbroken continual flight was shattered recently by a United Kingdom research team during a test flight in Arizona.

The British Aerospace and defense company QinetiQ brought their new research and test Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to the US Army Yuma proving Grounds in Arizona, to fly and find out what it was made of.

The aircraft surpassed itself, flying for a time of 82 hours and 37 minutes.

This beat the existing world record held by the US Military Global Hawk system flown in 2001 for about 30 hours and 24 minutes.

Members of the United States and British Military are both very interested in the new QinetiQ vehicle, called the “Zephr.” Both for its possible combat capability and for long term and long range reconnaissance ability.

The flight took place between July 28th and 31st, and the daytime temperatures in the desert can rise as high as 113 degrees. Despite this, the Zephr is a plane that beat the current world record by about 50 hours.

The new plan will have other applications than just military, it can be sued to overfly large areas that it is impractical or not cost effective to do so, and it also is able to scan and observe large areas of the earth and do so quietly.

There are many applications in civil and scientific research that would benefit from the Zephr, and the future of both the British Aerial vehicle and the company appear bright.