New Selex UAS completes maiden flight

• Tweet

CAMPI BISENZIO, Italy, July 25 (UPI) -- The latest tactical unmanned aerial system developed by Selex Galileo of Italy has successfully performed a 40-minute maiden flight.

The UAS, the latest addition to the company's Falco family of unmanned aerial systems, is called EVO. It has an extended endurance of as much as 18 hours and can carry a payload of as much as 240 pounds.

"Because the Falco EVO adopts the airframe, avionics and engine configuration from the existing Falco, the new UAS is already showing itself to be a remarkably robust platform," said Fabrizio Boggiani, Selex Galileo's marketing lead for the Falco UAS. "We're looking forward to it being embraced by the market just as the Falco has been so far."

The Falco EVO can integrate a large range of payloads that are in use on other Falco aircraft. The company said it is also compatible and inter-operable with the current Falco-family ground control segment.

During its maiden flight, conducted in Bulgaria, the Falco EVO flew at 1,500 feet, performed three fly-bys and conducted a number of landing approaches.