The Vanilla Unmanned drone of the American company of the same name spent eight days, 50 minutes and 47 seconds in the air. The developers say that he broke the world record for the duration of the flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle with an internal combustion engine without refueling.
The previous record in this category also belongs to Vanilla Unmanned. In 2017, her drone spent five days and 24 minutes in the air, covering more than 11 thousand kilometers. It carried various types of payloads, including NASA's multispectral image signal generator and sensors from the US Department of Defense.
The developers say that Vanilla Unmanned is capable of flights lasting up to ten days with a payload of 13.6 kilograms. In general, the drone can carry up to 68 kilograms, but in this case it will be able to spend only a few days in the air. According to the Pentagon classification, it belongs to the third group of unmanned aircraft systems. It includes vehicles weighing less than 599 kilograms, flying at speeds below 463 kilometers per hour.
Vanilla Unmanned broke its record on October 2. He spent eight days, 50 minutes and 47 seconds in the air, flying more than 19.6 thousand kilometers. The tests were conducted with the participation of the Edwards Air Base, and their results were submitted for approval as an official world record for the duration of the flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle with an internal combustion engine without refueling.
The absolute record for the duration of flight among drones as a class belongs to the European pseudo-satellite Zephyr S. Earlier we wrote that he spent 25 days, 23 hours and 57 minutes in the sky. But during the flight, the Zephyr S was powered by solar panels, which covered the entire upper surface of its wing and tail.
Vasilisa Chernyavtseva