Posted by Courtney E. Howard SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif., 7 Oct. 2011. AME Unmanned Air Systems’ Fury 1500 Special Mission unmanned aerial system (UAS)--developed at AME's UAS facility in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and operated and controlled by AME's SharkFin UAS mission management software--has logged a 14.2-hour flight. This runway-independent UAS offers a large payload capacity (weight and volume), heavy-fuel propulsion system, high power-to-payload, and "special mission"-capable avionics. Fury 1500's large payload and power capacity enable support of several payloads simultaneously, providing warfighters with a multitude of capabilities over a variety of mission scenarios.
AME engineers have implemented a more powerful launcher to avoid wind and altitude launch constraints when flying above 300 pounds at takeoff.
"The Fury 1500 continues its recent string of successful test flights over the last few weeks. We have been demonstrating system reliability by flying back-to-back sorties and have accumulated over 109 flight hours in the last 45 days. Reaching this duration puts us alone in the category of long-endurance, large payload, tactical UAS, but we are not finished yet. We expect to achieve 16+ hours soon, and in a short time will exceed that as we continue to improve our heavy-fuel propulsion system," says John Purvis, president and CEO of AME UAS.
"Fury 1500, and its mission planning and control system, Sharkfin, are progressing nicely toward a fully deployable capability for our Army, Navy, and special mission customers," notes Jay McConville, AME UAS chairman. "With its multi-INT capability, small footprint, and open architecture, we expect Fury to add significantly to our nation's mission capability for both land and maritime use, and be easily integrated with existing C2 and intelligence systems. While still new, the open and flexible architecture will ensure a bright future for both Fury and Sharkfin."
