GoldenEye 80

Aurora Flight Sciences has created one of the most advanced ducted-fan unmanned aircraft systems available, GoldenEye 80. One of two aircraft competing in DARPA’s OAV-II program, GoldenEye 80’s free-floating wings, acoustically focused design, and flight control systems make it the right choice for homeland security tasks and tomorrow’s battlefield.

The GoldenEye 80 Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) is a vertical-takeoff and landing aircraft designed for ease of operations. The aircraft can be launched within minutes from container to airborne flight. In flight, the highly integrated system interface permits one operator to support operations of one or more aircraft.

The GoldenEye 80 UAS is comprised of three aircraft, a U.S. Army “One System” compliant Ground Control System, a stabilized electro-optical/infrared gimbaled turret with laser designator/laser rangefinder payload and support equipment.

GoldenEye 80’s wings provide the ability to transition from VTOL operations to high-speed, wingborne flight and achieve four times the endurance of other ducted fan systems. GoldenEye’s wings increase its survivability, get it to the target faster, and enable it to loiter in target areas longer.

The GoldenEye 80 UAS is the first flying ducted-fan UAS with a heavy-fuel engine, a derivative of the U.S. Army’s Shadow engine. The air-cooled, rotary engine has an integrated starter/generator, electronic fuel-injection and ignition control. The engine is running and flying on heavy fuels (Jet-A and JP-8) and AvGas today.

The baseline payload has a multi-field-of-view EO/IR sensor and includes a laser designator and rangefinder. The aircraft has a modular design that permits plug-and-play operation of various other payloads.

GoldenEye 80 is the first ducted fan design to demonstrate the ability to meet stringent acoustic requirements. It can operate effectively---and remain undetected---in most background noise environments.

Features

Fully autonomous takeoff, operations and landing
Requires no dedicated launch/recovery equipment
Operable from small, unimproved locations
Consistent with shipboard operations
Full system packages in four containers
Ground transport via two HMMWVs
Air transportable using a single MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor
Heavy-fuel engine