Aurora's GoldenEye 80 Makes Successful First Flight

    MANASSAS, Va., Nov. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Aurora Flight Sciences announced
today that the company's GoldenEye 80 unmanned air vehicle made a
successful first flight. The flight marked another first as GoldenEye 80
became the first ducted fan UAV to fly under the power of a heavy fuel
engine. The GoldenEye 80 UAV is being developed under contract to the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) through its Organic Air
Vehicle (OAV-II) program.
    "GoldenEye 80 is designed to give company commanders the ability to
spot, identify, designate, and destroy targets," said Aurora CEO John
Langford. "With its powerful sensors and quiet operation, the aircraft can
dash to a target area, hover motionless in the sky, and observe and
designate a target - - all without being heard by people on the ground."
    "Today's first flight is a major milestone toward providing US military
forces with a powerful VTOL UAV capability that will revolutionize future
combat against asymmetric threats," said DARPA OAV-II Program Manager Dan
Newman.
    GoldenEye 80 is designed to carry an advanced sensor payload developed
by the US Army's Night Vision Lab and FLIR Systems that includes a high
resolution video camera, a high resolution infrared camera for night
viewing, a laser rangefinder, a laser tracker, and a laser designator.
Standing 65 inches tall and weighing about 150 pounds, the GoldenEye 80
takes off and lands vertically but can transition to horizontal flight
using wings. Because GoldenEye 80 is fully autonomous, a pilot is not
required to fly the aircraft.
    GoldenEye 80 is the third generation ducted fan aircraft developed by
Aurora. The first, GoldenEye 100, was a proof of concept aircraft first
flown in 2003 under the "Clandestine UAV" project. This success led a
smaller aircraft, the GoldenEye 50, which in 2005 successfully demonstrated
the ability to transition to and from horizontal flight using wings that
"float" rather than being rigidly attached to the plane's body. GoldenEye
80 combines the stealth features and the performance features of the
earlier programs with a heavy fuel engine and an advanced sensor payload to
create a system with true combat effectiveness.
    Aurora's partners in the GoldenEye development program include General
Dynamics Robotics Systems, Northrop Grumman Corporation, and Athena
Technologies.
    About Aurora Flight Sciences
    Aurora Flight Sciences is a leader in unmanned aerial vehicle
technology for research, defense and homeland security organizations. For
more than 17 years, Aurora Flight Sciences has expanded the limits of
unmanned flight through the design and manufacture of innovative aircraft.
Aurora specializes in the manufacture of composite and metal aerostructures
for manned and unmanned aircraft. Learn more about Aurora Flight Sciences
by visiting the company's website at http://www.aurora.aero.