Rockwell Collins and DARPA demonstrate UAV aerobatics on a fixed trajectory

Rockwell Collins has demonstrated the first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to fly aerobatics with position tracking, as part of its ongoing damage tolerance research contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The all-attitude control technology supplies UAVs with damage tolerance and the ability to fight through evasive manoeuvres and counter threats such as missiles. Dave Vos, Senior Director of Rockwell Collins Control Technologies and Unmanned Aircraft Systems said, “This technology will also enable UAVs to fly at low altitude in urban environments and even in confined places such as inside buildings and caves,” he added.

Vos further said that the technology is now set to be ported to an operational UAV. He indicated that while others have flown aerobatics of autonomous UAVs, the most recent DARPA test was the first UAV to fly aerobatics with position tracking with a fixed aerobatic trajectory in space.

This demonstration is part of the third phase of a damage tolerance contract awarded to Rockwell Collins.