AirStrato

AirStrato
Role Unmanned aerial vehicle
Manufacturer ARCAspace
First flight February 28, 2014
Status Not Active
Produced 3

AirStrato is a solar powered medium-sized unmanned aerial vehicle that was being developed by ARCAspace. There were two variants planned, AirStrato Explorer with a target flight ceiling of 18,000 m and AirStrato Pioneer with a target flight ceiling of 8000 m. It was planned to carry a 45 kg payload consisting of surveillance equipment, scientific instruments or additional battery pods for extended autonomy.[1][2] The first prototype maiden flight took place on February 28, 2014. It was equipped with a fixed landing gear. Two more prototypes were constructed that lacked a landing gear. Instead ARCA opted for a pneumatic catapult as a launcher and landing skids and a recovery parachute for landing. Both prototypes performed take-off and landing testing and low altitude flights.

  1. ^ Romanians are testing an unmanned aerial vehicle with amazing performances, Jurnalul National, archived from the original on 2014-03-10, retrieved 2014-02-13.
  2. ^ ARCA is developing a high performance UAV, Romania TV.