Aurora Flight Sciences has completed a seven-hour flight test of its hydrogen fuel cell-powered small uncrewed aircraft system (sUAS), the SKIRON-XLE.
The Boeing company undertook the tests at an airfield in Virginia, the US, fitting the sUAS with two five-litre hydrogen tanks, an Intelligent Energy fuel cell, a Trillium camera payload, and a lithium polymer auxiliary battery, in total weighing 54 pounds at take-off.
The SKIRON is a hybrid eVTOL platform that combines electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) with fixed-wing forward flight that’s compliant with US regulations for sUAS operations.
“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,” explained Jason Grzywna, Senior Director of Products at Aurora Flight Sciences.
“We look forward to delivering this game-changing product to customers in early 2025,” added Grzywna.
In July (2024), Intelligent Energy launched a new product line of fuel cell solutions suitable for eVTOL sub-regional and regional aviation, which H2 View understands was used in Aurora’s aircraft.
Read more: Intelligent Energy to debut hydrogen fuel cell tech at Farnborough Airshow
The initial F300 fuel cell system was unveiled at the UK-based Farnborough International Airshow last month.
