Alenia Aeronautica: Sky-X, the first UAV in Europe in the over 1,000 Kg category
Alenia Aeronautica’s Sky-X, is a new-generation unmanned vehicle conceived to test technologies relevant
to a wide range of civil and security missions, specifically ground observation, surveillance and
reconnaissance.
The Sky-X has made its maiden flight on May 29, 2005 from the Vidsel Base, in Sweden, near the Arctic
Circle, testing the system functionalities and flight characteristics. With this flight Alenia Aeronautica has set
a European record within the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) field. The technological demonstrator Sky-X
has been the first sophisticated UAV in Europe to fly in the over 1,000 kg category.
Last June, the Sky-X set a new record, a world record this time: taking-off from the Italian Air Force’s
Amendola Base, the jet unmanned aircraft, has successfully completed a series of join-up manoeuvres with
another airplane to simulate a flight-refuelling operation, in a completely automated way.
During testing, the Sky-X has successfully carried out, with no intervention by the ground control station’s
technicians, all chasing, approaching, alignment and flight-refuelling simulation manoeuvres with a tanker
aircraft (in this case an Alenia Aeronautica’s C-27J), getting near to the air-tanker by few metres, the actual
distance necessary for this operation. The Sky-X has then returned to the base, landing and rolling up to the
parking area, always in a completely automated way.
The Sky-X, developed at the Caselle plant (Turin) in 18 months from its inception, delivers competitive
advantage by allowing Alenia Aeronautica to test new engineering solutions, mature advanced technologies
and test them in flight.
The whole system has been developed by Alenia Aeronautica’s engineering centres with the support of
several other Italian aeronautical firms such as Secondo Mona, OMA, Moreggia, OMA Sud, Tema, Teseo,
Vitrociset, Magnaghi Aeronautica and Quadrics, an Alenia’s subsidiary.
Alenia Aeronautica’s Sky-X is about 7 metres long and has a wing span of almost 6 metres. It can carry a
pay-load of 200 kg with a maximum take-off weight of 1,450 kg. Designed for a max speed of 350 knots,
provided with a Microturbo TRI60-268 jet engine, it cruises at 260 kcas and is able to reach an altitude of
about of 25000 ft, operating at high-load factor (5 g).
While the European UAS market forecast for the timeframe 2010/12 is envisaged at around €2 billions, the
global market for this kind of products sets its target at €40/50 billions for the years 2010/30
The Sky-X’s external configuration includes several features typical of low observable aircrafts. Due to its
modular conception, the UAV is able to test a number of non-conventional configurations as well as
advanced subsystems and equipment. A follow-on “tailless” configuration and an extended endurance
configuration suitable for reconnaissance are currently under study by Alenia Aeronautica engineers.A Ground Control Station, including Remote Operator Station and Data-link, has been completely designed
and produced by Alenia Aeronautica at the Caselle plants. It is, as a matter of fact, a sophisticated ground
station able to support every flight test and complex experimentation, more capable than that of any UAS
product.
Alenia Aeronautica’s studies, researches and achievements give the possibility to Italian universities and
research centres to participate in a third-generation unmanned air vehicles experimental program. The
Sky-X can be viewed as a flying “platform” serving as a testbed for maturing and testing the results of
various national and European research initiatives. Also, the project’s flexibility and versatility will reduce the
development risks of a new civil or military UAS programme, offering a low-cost but highly representative
testing tool, well ahead of the availability of future product.