Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing company, recently completed a successful seven-hour flight test of its hydrogen fuel-cell-powered SKIRON-XLE.
Purpose-designed for long-range reconnaissance missions, the SKIRON-XLE is a Group 2 small uncrewed aircraft system (sUAS).
The sUAS completed the flight test at an airfield in Virginia to showcase its enhanced endurance capabilities. For the seven-hour flight, the SKIRON-XLE system included:
- Two five-liter hydrogen tanks
- An Intelligent Energy fuel cell
- Trillium’s HD45 EO/IR camera payload
- A Lithium Polymer (LiPo) auxiliary battery
Take-off weight was 54 pounds. Completing the flight test, SKIRON-XLE landed at 7.0 hours with its hydrogen fuel tanks depleted and ample safety margin remaining on the battery.
The SKIRON-XLE’s ruggedized ground control station features Kutta Technologies’ Unified Ground Control Station (UGCS) software, with a 2.4G 10W radio and tracking antenna providing up to 75 km command and control (C2) link range.
SKIRON-XLE is part of Aurora’s SKIRON sUAS product line, which also includes the battery-powered SKIRON-X with 3.5-hour flight endurance.
SKIRON is a hybrid eVTOL platform, combining electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) with fixed-wing forward flight. It is compliant with U.S. FAA Part 107 regulations for sUAS operations, and it is BVLOS-ready.
Aurora first announced the forthcoming SKIRON-XLE in June 2024. The vehicle has up to three payload mounting locations — nose, belly and under-wing — and custom payload integration is available.
Jason Grzywna, senior director of products at Aurora Flight Sciences, commented, “With this latest flight test, we’ve shown that SKIRON-XLE unlocks the longer flight times that customers are looking for while still being easy to deploy and easy to operate.
“SKIRON-XLE is a testament to Aurora’s capabilities as an innovator and integrator of advanced flight technologies. We look forward to delivering this game-changing product to customers in early 2025.”
