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Lockheed’s Stalker XE receives VTOL upgrade

24th May 2018 - 13:30 GMT | by Shephard News Team

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Lockheed Martin has upgraded its Stalker XE UAS with a VTOL capability, the company announced on 22 May.

The new VTOL option will provide users with increased mission flexibility and operation from more austere locations. This also provides a reduced logistics footprint and expands how and where the Stalker XE UAS may operate.

Other launch alternatives include a pneumatic rail or a standard bungee launch system.

The all-weather Stalker XE system is a small UAS that provides long endurance imaging capability through image stabilised pan, tilt, zoom on electro-optical, infrared, low-light and high-definition imagers along with an image tracker.

Depending on payloads and launch option, Stalker XE can fly up to eight hours with a propane fuel cell or up to four hours with a battery option at a cruise speed of 56km/h.

Russell Coons, programme manager, Stalker XE, said: By offering three unique launch options, we will support day or night flight operations in a variety of environments, expanding Stalker XE’s ability to do more with less. We continue to evolve the system to bring more capability to our system operators.’

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