Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has announced that its XQ-58A Valkyrie unmanned aerial system (UAS) has successfully completed its fourth test and demonstration flight. The Valkyrie, developed in conjunction with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) under the Low-Cost Attritable Strike Demonstrator (LCASD) Program is designed to be a low-cost runway-independent UAV that supports a variety of defense missions, such as providing manned fighter aircraft with surveillance, fire support and other functions.
The test flight lasted for over an hour, during which the demonstrator aircraft successfully completed all 43 baseline test objectives, plus 6 additional tests. Since the previous test flight, design changes had been made to the aircraft’s airbag system, and these were successfully tested on landing following deployment of the Valkyrie’s parachute. The XQ-58A has now flown for a total of over five hours, and has exceeded the progress originally planned for this test flight series.
Steve Fendley, President of Kratos Unmanned Systems Division, commented: “I am thrilled for our joint Kratos and AFRL team. With another successful flight and substantial envelope expansion specifically targeted at validating a near-term mission requirement, we continue to illustrate the potential of the XQ-58A and validate our objective for rapid development of a low cost, attritable, strike UAS. We look forward to continuing to support AFRL and our other customers in application of the Valkyrie to both existing and evolving DoD opportunities.”
