Airbus Helicopters has begun trialing autonomous take-off and landing capabilities at sea for the VSR700 VTOL UAV...

The VSR700 is an unmanned aerial system being developed for the French Navy in partnership ...

Airbus announced that its VSR700 VTOL UAV prototype reached a speed of 60 kts during its latest test flight.

The VSR700 optionally piloted vehicle (OPV) has successfully achieved fully autonomous takeoff and landing (ATOL) approaches, validating its autonomy to and from a moving platform and advancing the VSR700 programme towards its end goal: offering a tactical unmanned aerial system (UAS) with (ATOL) capacities for global navies. The landing zone: a pitching, yawing platform, mounted on a trailer to simulate the conditions of a moving ship deck.

The prototype of Airbus Helicopters’ VSR700 vertical take off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has performed its first free flight. The VSR700 performed a ten minute flight at a drone test centre near Aix-en-Provence in the south of France.

French minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, announced that rotary and fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for the French Navy (Marine Nationale) will be procured ahead of schedule. The announcement came as part of a wider recovery plan to help the French aerospace industry cope with the current economic crisis.

The Airbus Helicopters VSR700 naval VTOL UAV made its maiden flight on November 8 at the Aix-en-Provence drone test center (south of France). Several test captive-flights were successfully performed on an enhanced version of the UAV.