Freewing SCORPION 60-25
Scorpion is a multipurpose drones, created by the American company Freewing Aerial Robotics. It is a short-range unmanned aerial vehicle, in which the manufacturer used the principle to ensure a constant angle of attack of the wing throughout the flight. The main advantages that are achieved by the design of the UAV are improved longitudinal stability in wind gusts and improved stability in the event of speed loss. The use of various sensors allows the device to successfully perform the tasks assigned to it under conditions where other UAV configurations are useless.
Through the use of sloping body design "Scorpion" can land and take off at too steep trajectory, using the slope of the thrust vector. This especially helps when taking off from unprepared UAV platform and the landing on board naval ship in heavy seas. Insensitive to wind gusts and turbulence allows Scorpion drone working in extreme conditions, which are not able to withstand other existing drones.
Together with Freewing Aerial Robotics, this device was developed by Scaled Composites. In a joint project, they designed the configuration of the sloped hull, landing gear and tail structure, and developed a new wing profile optimized for maximum lift with minimum losses. Pitch and roll control is provided by the operation of the outer elevons. Scaled Composites owns the complete skeleton, the Rotax engine and flight control systems. The unmanned vehicle is currently undergoing a flight test program. Two modifications of Scorpion UAVs were released - Scorpion 60-25 and Scorpion 100-60. They differ from each other only in size (Scorpion 60-25 is the smaller one).
Freewing SCORPION 60-25. Characteristics:
Modification | Scorpion 100-60 | Scorpion 60-25 |
Wingspan, m | 4.90 | 3.70 |
Length m | 3.60 | 2.00 |
Height, m | 1.10 | 0.84 |
Wing area, m2 | ||
Weight, kg | ||
empty | 145 | 34 |
takeoff | 215 | 65 |
Fuel l | 62.5 | 22.7 |
engine's type | 1 PD Rotax Hirth | 1 PD Quadra 200 |
Power, hp | X 1 65 | X 1 22 |
Maximum speed km / h | 222 | 185 |
Cruising speed, km / h | 121 | 118 |
Range, km | 50 | |
Flight duration, h | 6.5 | 4.3 |
Rate of climb, m / min | 732 | |
Practical ceiling, m | 4572 | 1524 |
Payload, kg | 27 | 11 |