UAV Factory has introduced its new fixed-wing VTOL with its Aeroflow Boom technology. Called Penguin C Mk2, the long-range unmanned aircraft provides precision vertical takeoff and landing capability ideally suited to support missions in more restrictive environments.
The company says its new Aeroflow Boom technology significantly reduces the parasitic drag on the vehicle and enables a 20% increase in flight endurance. The aircraft is equipped with hoods over the vertical lifting rotors that automatically enclose the lifting rotors while the vehicle is in horizontal flight, considerably lowering parasitic drag. This allows Penguin C Mk2 to fly for over 14 hours for distances of 110 miles (180 km) using batteries that can be replaced in under two minutes, minimizing the delay between flights.
The VTOL booms are made of advanced carbon-fiber composite, which makes them both light and rigid. Even with the added weight of the booms to enable VTOL operations in restrictive environments, the Penguin C Mk2 VTOL weighs only 70.6 lbs (32 kg), which places it in Group 3 UAS category.
The aircraft has a 9.9 lb (4.5 kg) payload capacity and incorporates an innovative rapidly swappable payload nose cone, which can be changed out in less than 2 minutes. The nose cone is gyro-stabilized in the roll axis, therefore adding an additional stabilization axis to any payload that the aircraft carries.
In addition, the VTOL aircraft comes standard with high-performance Electro-Optical/Infra-Red (EO/IR) gyro-stabilized payloads, which includes an MWIR thermal imager with continuous 15x optical zoom and long-range 90x zoom, and a 4K daylight camera. Other smaller EO/IR payloads, such as our Epsilon 140 series, are also available if desired.
Penguin C Mk2 VTOL has completed more than 600 successful flight tests in various environmental conditions. It can handle takeoff and landing in winds up to 30 knots (55 km/h) and can operate in extreme temperatures from -40°C to +50°C (-40°F to 122 °F).
