FARNBOROUGH, England, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- BAE Systems is developing a new generation of unmanned air vehicles for operational military use.
"The HERTI UAV is one of a family of unmanned air vehicles -- UAV -- being developed by BAE Systems through its Autonomous Systems and Future Capability, Integrated System Technologies and Australian businesses. Through this work, BAE Systems has been able to translate high levels of autonomy into increased operational effectiveness," the company said in a statement last week.
"Initially a concept demonstrator, HERTI's first flight was achieved in December 2004 using common systems, power-plants and ground stations with other BAE Systems UAV programs. It builds on previous major achievements where BAE Systems has flown six different UAVs over the last five years. These included the first, and still the only, fully autonomous flight by a UAV in (British) airspace with Civil Aviation Authority -- CAA -- clearance, the company said.
Mark Kane, managing director of autonomous systems and future capability at BAE Systems said: "What we have done in developing HERTI is to produce a platform that is affordable, built to meet operational needs, and which will offer levels of reliability that up until now will have only been available in manned aircraft. "
"The key to HERTI is that we have developed a capability and task driven system that will deliver high levels of operational performance in a wide range of different roles. Project Morrigan,and our own trials have given us further confidence that HERTI is uniquely placed to meet customer requirements around the world," Kane said.
