Martin UAV LLC, a San Jose, California based designer and fabricator of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) recently participated in the 2016 Joint Interagency Field Experimentation (JIFX) event at Camp Roberts, California, at the invitation of the United States Naval Post Graduate School.
The company’s flagship vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, the “V-BAT”, conducted operational flights from a remotely confined area as well as a prepared runway at the United States Army’s test range.
The Martin V-BAT is the first aircraft of its size and capability to successfully demonstrate the ability to takeoff vertically, transition to wing-borne flight like a sail-plane, and land from a hover The V-Bat is capable of hovering over select locations along a pre-programmed flight path before returning to land vertically in a concealed and confined area. The V-BAT has achieved the critical operational benchmark of vertical take-off and landing without the assistance of any launch or recovery equipment, making it unique in the UAS marketplace today.
Pictured is the production V-BAT gas-variant, the culmination of rapid innovation under globally-renowned aeronautical systems expert, and Martin UAV Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Stephen Morris.
JIFX is an invitation-only annual event which took place August 9-10, 2016. The testing provides combatant commanders, as well as state, local and federal agencies an environment in which they can rapidly test, evaluate, and refine emerging technology in support of warfighters and first responders.
Source: Press Release