Record du monde de durée de vol pour un drone

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Orion, un drone conçu par Aurora Flight Sciences est resté trois jours dans les airs. Le précédent record était de trente heures seulement.

Voici un résumé de la performance établie:

Drone Orion
Le drone Orion en plein vol



80 heures, 2 minutes et 52 secondes de vol pour un drone


Record battu pour le prototype Orion, un drone classé dans la catégorie MALE (Moyenne Altitude et Longue Endurance) télécommandé à distance. Confectionné par Aurora Flight Sciences, le drone est ainsi resté trois jours dans les airs, nécessitant quatre pilotes qui se sont ainsi relayés à piloter l’appareil.

Si l’information ne tombe que maintenant, le record avait cependant été réalisé en décembre 2014 au dessus de la Californie. Il n’a été officialisé qu'en juillet 2015 par la Fédération aéronautique internationale (FAI). Intitulé Orion, il bat ainsi le record du plus long vol pour un drone, (hors petits appareils). Le précédent record appartenait à Global Hawk de la société Northrop Grumman, qui n’avait tenu « que » trente heures en vol.

Caractéristiques techniques d'Orion


  • Appareil bimoteur de 5 tonnes,
  • Envergure de 40,2 m,
  • 1180 kg de charge utile


Un record au profit de l’US Air Force


Si cette prouesse ne parlera pas forcément au grand public, elle est en revanche très notable pour l’armée américaine. Orion pourrait être construit en série pour l’US Air Force. Le drone est conçu pour emporter une lourde charge de plus d’une tonne (incluant les caméras, les capteurs, l’armement). Sa longue durée lui permet "exactement ce que le combattant américain demande : une surveillance constante de l’ennemi" annonce John Langford, président de la société Aurora Flight Sciences qui confirme que le drone sera résolument conçu pour l’armée américaine.

Le record de 14 jours pour un drone toutes catégories confondues


Le record absolu pour un drone, toutes catégories confondues appartient à Qinetiq Zephyr, construit par Airbus, qui a réalisé un vol de 336 heures, soit 14 jours en 2010. Le Qinetiq Zephyr est un petit avion solaire, sans pilote, d’une petite dizaines de kilos.



Voici le communiqué de presse officiel relatif à ce record (source : Aurora Flight Sciences):

ORION UNMANNED AIRCRAFT WORLD RECORD CONFIRMED

Manassas, Virginia, July 14, 2015 – Aurora Flight Sciences announced today that on July 1, 2015 the company received official notification from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) that its Orion aircraft set the world record for duration of flight for a remotely controlled UAV. The record was awarded based on the aircraft’s 80-hour, 2-minute and 52-second flight that took place December 5-8, 2014. The previous record for the same class of unmanned aircraft was just over 30 hours, set by a Global Hawk in 2001.

The National Aeronautic Association (NAA) also notified Aurora that the record-breaking Orion flight was being formally recognized by NAA as one of the most memorable aviation milestones of 2014. In 2014 the Orion record flight was also recognized by NAA in naming Orion as a finalist for the Collier Trophy, one of the world’s most distinguished aviation awards. Officials from NAA were on-hand to supervise and formally witness the Orion record breaking flight in December, 2014.

“We’re thrilled to receive notification that FAI and NAA have officially recognized this groundbreaking development in unmanned flight,” said Dr. John Langford, chairman and CEO of Aurora Flight Sciences. “The U.S. military put the challenge to Aurora to develop a long-endurance unmanned system that far exceeded the capabilities of existing technologies. Obviously, when taxpayer dollars are invested, the goal is not only to see if a long-endurance flight can be achieved, but to ultimately deploy the system in support of the American warfighter. We met and exceeded our customer’s requirements for the aircraft. The most important recognition for Orion will come when the aircraft is put to work meeting exactly what U.S. warfighter is calling for – unmanned, persistent surveillance of our enemies. We stand ready to meet this growing demand.”

In recent months, demand from U.S. national security leaders for long-endurance, or “persistent,” intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities in an unmanned aircraft has been on the rise. Speaking on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on June 10, 2015, House Defense Appropriations subcommittee chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen said “we believe that a strong intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability is a critical component of the Global War on Terrorism. And yet, a succession of combatant commanders have testified that only a fraction of their ISR requirements are being met, in essence, leaving them blind to the enemy’s activities, movements and intentions.”

Aurora is a world leader in design and manufacture of medium altitude, long-endurance unmanned and optionally piloted aircraft for military ISR requirements and a wide range of commercial applications. “It’s not every day that a U.S. government contractor is tasked with testing the existing boundaries of a given aviation threshold, only to shatter that threshold and establish a world record,” said Langford. “The Orion platform certainly joins our Centaur aircraft as a pillar in Aurora’s growing suite of products that we believe will experience significant demand in the coming years.”

The company’s Centaur optionally piloted, medium altitude, long-endurance aircraft, in service with customers including a European defense agency, also recently became the first large UAS to fly in one of six FAA test sites designed to prepare for integration in the U.S. national air space. The ability to fly manned or unmanned in the sovereign airspace of customer and neighboring countries is a unique capability that greatly reduces costs and logistics, and optimizes the aircraft’s time-on-mission.

“The global threat environment and related ISR requirements are evolving rapidly, and doing so in the context of deep budget cuts,” said Dr. John S. Langford, chairman and CEO of Aurora. “Our go-to-market strategy is grounded in the basic notion of a customer-driven contracting approach. We’re doing traditional sale and lease agreements, as well as company-owned and operated deals that allow the government customer to focus more on the acquisition of information, as opposed to airplanes.”

• For information on the world record ratified by FAI, go to – http://www.fai.org/record-experimental-new-technologies .

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