MADRID, April 13 (UPI) -- A rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle developed by Indra of Spain has received government airworthiness certification.
The certification by the State Aviation Safety Agency, a body within Spain's Ministry of Public Works, paves the way for subsystem integration, testing and demonstration flights.
The Pelican is a rotary-wing unmanned aircraft with automatic vertical take-off and landing features and capable of carrying various payloads -- electro-optics, radar, signal intelligence, CBRN sensors – of up to 120 pounds.
The Indra's Pelican is based on the APID60 platform, developed by Swedish Cybaero, and is designed to engage in a wide variety of missions, either military or civil.
The certificate was the first awarded in Spain for rotary wing UAV.
Indra said the Pelican project, with a technical followup by Spain's Ministry of Defense, will reinforce the company's position in rotary-wing unmanned systems development.
The Pelican system is expected to be in service by next year.
