Engineers are starting work on a new solar electric unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that will be capable of flying for up to a year without requiring any maintenance.
BAE Systems is working with the aerospace experts at Prismatic to develop the PHASA-35, a high altitude, long endurance (HALE) UAV that could be ready for test flights as soon as next year.
The PHASA-35 runs on solar power during the day and stores enough power to run on batteries at night. The hope is to design the craft to be capable of surveillance and communications missions in remote areas of the world. PHASA, which stands for Persistent High Altitude Solar Aircraft, is a concept craft that has a 35-meter wingspan and will weigh about 330 pounds.
A small, quarter-scale model, the PHASE-8, successfully flew in 2017, but BAE and Prismatic hope to pool their collective expertise and bring the PHASA-35 to market.
The collaboration is part of BAE's effort to work with SMEs and universities to create aircraft of the future.
Image Credit: https://www.baesystems.com