QinetiQ, Boeing Partner on Long-​​Endurance UAV

This arti­cle first appeared in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report.

FARNBOROUGH — Boeing has selected QinetiQ, the U.K.-based defense tech­nol­ogy com­pany, as its key tech­nol­ogy part­ner on Vulture — the ultra-​​long-​​endurance unmanned aer­ial vehi­cle (UAV) con­cept pro­posed by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The $3.8-million first phase of the pro­gram will see QinetiQ par­tic­i­pat­ing in sys­tem def­i­n­i­tion and analy­sis as well as a review of sys­tem require­ments. The chal­lenge? To cre­ate a large, load-​​carrying UAV able to remain aloft for weeks on end.

As part of the Boeing team, QinetiQ is expected to apply exper­tise gained in the devel­op­ment of Zephyr, a high-​​altitude long-​​endurance UAV. Launched by hand, Zephyr, is built mainly from light­weight car­bon fiber. It flies on solar power by day and draws power from recharge­able lithium sul­fur bat­ter­ies by night.

In October of last year, Zephyr exceeded the offi­cial world record dura­tion for unmanned flight, with a 54-​​hour mis­sion flown over the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

DARPA’s goal for Vulture is the abil­ity to carry a 1,000-pound, 5-​​kw pay­load for an extended period, while remain­ing on sta­tion despite strong high-​​altitude winds and other fac­tors. Considered a “pseudo satel­lite,” Vulture may one day serve as a per­sis­tent intel­li­gence, sur­veil­lance and recon­nais­sance (ISR) plat­form, or as an aer­ial node in a global com­mu­ni­ca­tions network.

In addi­tion to its UAV work, QinetiQ comes to Farnborough this year rid­ing a wave of sig­nif­i­cant con­tract wins. The com­pany is a key player on the F-​​35 Lightning II pro­gram. As a mem­ber of TeamUK F-​​35, QinetiQ is help­ing with devel­op­ment in key areas, includ­ing flight sim­u­la­tion, train­ing, weapons sys­tems and through-​​life plat­form management.

Be sure to read the rest of this story, take a look at Japan’s altered acqui­si­tion rules, how the US Army is recruit­ing in the vir­tual world and more gouge from the Farnborough Air Show by our friends at Aviation Week on Military​.com.

– Christian

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