Raven’s Aerostar helps naval lab with flight tests

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SIOUX FALLS (AP) — A division of Sioux Falls-based Raven Industries says it has assisted a U.S. Navy research arm with successful unmanned aerial vehicle flight tests.

Aerostar says it aided the Naval Research Laboratory Vehicle Research Section on Sept. 1 with the flight for the Autonomous Deployment Demonstration program at the Yuma Proving Grounds in Yuma, Ariz.

The tests consisted of eight high altitude balloon releases at altitudes of up to 57,000 feet. They involved close-in cover autonomous disposable aircraft vehicles coming to rest within 15 feet from their intended landing targets.

Mike Smith, an Aerostar senior aerospace engineer at Aerostar International, says the preflight checks, balloon inflation, launch and tracking operations can be carried out by two people in one vehicle from almost any remote location.

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