On 28 February the ATLANTE Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) took its maiden flight from Rozas aerodrome in Castro de Rey (Lugo). GMV personnel posted to the aerodrome as members of the First Flight Team took part in its monitoring. After fulfilling all objectives and successfully following the mission plan, it touched down smoothly on the runway.

ATLANTE is a long-range tactical unmanned aerial vehicle designed for ISTAR missions (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance). It is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and has been designed according to the standards used for manned aircraft. This gives it unique features in terms of airworthiness and certification that will allow it to operate in civil airspace, unlike current systems that are limited to operations in conflict scenarios (e.g. Afghanistan). This ability, coupled with its operational flexibility, make ATLANTE the first tactical UAS capable of carrying out both civil and military missions, such as urban and rural surveillance, search and rescue, natural disasters, forest fires, monitoring of sporting events, etc. It can also take off from runways or be launched from catapults.

GMV, acting as CASSIDIAN’s risk-sharing partner, is playing a key role in the ATLANTE program. Not only is it responsible for one of the aircraft’s most critical pieces of equipment, the flight control computer (FCC), which controls, guides and navigates the aircraft, but also for the automatic takeoff and landing (ATOL) subsystem, integrated in the Ground Control Station (GCS) and designed to provide data for improving navigation precision in takeoff and landing procedures.

This maiden flight culminates 4 years of project development and serves as in-flight verification of the developed systems’ operational capabilities.

Click here to see a video of the maiden flight of Atlante UAS