East Aurora, NY (June 8, 2023) — Moog Inc. is excited to announce the first unmanned flight of the S250 multirotor testbed aircraft. The successful first flight marks a significant milestone in developing Moog’s HE350™ Recluse multi-mission unmanned vehicle. This autonomous hybrid electric vehicle is an evolution of Moog’s S250 flight testbed, which is currently participating in the USAF AFWERX Prime Programs.
The S250 program will directly benefit the development of the autonomous capability of the HE350 Recluse to enable agile, predictive, and precision sustainment in contested environments while allowing the warfighter to remain in a covert position. The point-and-click navigation capability of the Recluse allows for optional mission execution by an operator as opposed to a highly skilled pilot.
The high-integrity system design architecture of the vehicle makes it much safer than what is considered standard in a drone. With a reconfigurable payload capacity of 500 lbs. and a 144 nautical mile range, the vehicle can safely support missions like logistics and tactical resupply, multi-mission capability, mobile electric power, fire suppression, and humanitarian relief.
Michael Brunner, Director of Moog’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems, said, “Our team continues to make great progress on our path to fully autonomous flight. The knowledge gained from these flight tests is informing our parallel development effort to bring the reconfigurable Moog HE350 Recluse to the warfighter, transforming battlefield logistics while providing numerous other mission sets.”
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About Moog Inc.
Moog Inc. is a worldwide designer, manufacturer, and integrator of precision control components and systems. Moog’s high-performance systems control military and commercial aircraft, satellites and space vehicles, launch vehicles, missiles, automated industrial machinery, and marine and medical equipment. Additional information about the company can be found at www.moog.com.
About AFRL
Sole organization leading the planning & execution of USAF & USSF science & technology programs. Orchestrates a world-wide government, industry & academia coalition in the discovery, development & delivery of a wide range of revolutionary technology. Provides leading-edge warfighting capabilities keeping air, space and cyberspace forces the world's best. Employs 10,800 military, civilian, and contractor personnel at 17 research sites executing an annual $4B budget. For more information, visit: www.afresearchlab.com.
About AFWERX
AFWERX is an Air Force Research Laboratory Directorate that connects innovators across government, industry and academia. Through innovation and collaboration with our nation’s top subject-matter experts, AFWERX harnesses the power of ingenuity of internal talent while expanding technology, talent and transition partnerships for rapid and affordable commercial and military capability. Additional information is available at www.afwerx.com.
About Prime
The AFWERX Prime programs accelerate the development of key dual-use technology sectors that advance US national security and competitiveness, fielding rapid and affordable capability. Prime programs collaborate across academia, industry, investors, interagency, international, acquisition, laboratory, and warfighter communities. Learn more at https://afwerx.com/prime/