UAV tested in arctic conditions

LINKOPING, Sweden, Jan. 9 (UPI)

A Swedish-made unmanned helicopter successfully completed a series of mission flight tests over the Arctic Ocean, its maker says.

CybAero AB, the manufacturer of the system, said its APID 60 was put through its paces in search and rescue, and reconnaissance and surveillance in collaboration with the Norwegian Coast Guard and Coastal Agency near the Norwegian village of Vardo.

Vardo is located along the Norwegian Polar Sea and gale force winds were blowing when the tests were conducted.

"It's one thing to show that you can fly, but quite another to actually perform the task in these harsh conditions," said Andreas Gising, fight operations officer and manager on site in Vardo.

"The fully autonomous landing system developed by Astrium is currently integrated into the APID 60 and is seen as one key component for managing assignments of this nature. The performance of the Astrium High-Precision Local Navigation System is fully in line with the requirements we face for automated ship-board operations."

The APID 60 is a small vertical takeoff and landing system that can be loaded with a variety of sensors and which can transmit data over a distance of about 124 miles. It's about 10.5 feet long, 3.9 feet high and flies at about 56 mph.