Airbus Zephyr
| Zephyr | |
|---|---|
| An artist's impression of the UAV | |
| General information | |
| Type | high-altitude platform station |
| National origin | United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer | Airbus Defence and Space |
| Designer | initially Qinetiq |
| Status | Under development |
| History | |
| Introduction date | 2024 |
| First flight | December 2005 |
The Zephyr is a series of high-altitude platform station aircraft produced by Airbus. They were designed originally by QinetiQ, a commercial offshoot of the UK Ministry of Defence. In July 2010, the Zephyr 7 flew for 14 days. In March 2013, the project was sold to Airbus Defence and Space. In the summer of 2022, the Zephyr 8/S flew for 64 days.
The unmanned aerial vehicles are powered by solar cells, recharging batteries in daylight to stay aloft at night. The latest Zephyr 8/S weighs 60 kg (130 lb), has a wingspan of 25 m (82 ft), can reach 23,200 m (76,100 ft) and can lift a 5 kg (11 lb) payload for months. They can be used for mobile phone coverage, environmental monitoring, military reconnaissance or as a communications relay.