Nova Systems has collaborated with Elbit Systems Australia to facilitate flight trials of Elbit’s new unmanned aircraft system (UAS) for the Australian Army.
The trials were a key milestone in the development of Elbit System’s Skylark I-LEX, a new generation, man-portable, all-electric, mini UAS.
Leveraging Nova Systems' deployable testing range, the collaboration between Nova and Elbit enabled live data streams and provided flexibility for testing and validation of the Skylark I-LEX system.
Nova Systems worked with local authorities, CASA and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in East Sale to provide Elbit with the permissive space they needed to perform testing. This reduced restrictive risk mitigations and approval timeframes for Elbit. Commenting on the successful collaboration, Nova Systems General Manager Aerospace, Mark Wagstaff, said: "We’re pleased to support Elbit Systems Australia and the Australian Army in these flight trials.
“Testing these complex systems in a real-world environment provides the ability to showcase their full potential; all while ensuring they deconflict with air traffic.
“Nova Systems has been investing in both physical and synthetic methods for performing T&E on autonomous and uncrewed systems-of-systems as an area of focus within our T&E Centre of Excellence initiative.”
Nova Systems is continuing to expand its UAS Test Range capabilities, providing developers and operators a permissive space to mature technologies and prove utility. Nova’s UAS Test Range has the required approvals and supporting data technologies to enable users to turn up and test (fly missions). In addition, Nova’s transportable options provide similar capability in deployed locations.