P.1HH HammerHead programme reaches new milestone: autonomous flight modes successfully validated

Piaggio Aero, together with Finmeccanica - Selex ES are pleased to announce the latest developments in the flight campaign of the Remotely Piloted Air System (RPAS) P.1HH HammerHead DEMO aircraft that has validated and fine tuned its advanced control laws, including augmented modes, flight envelope protection and automatic flight, plus the automatic management of the ground run both in takeoff and landing.

Safety critical phases, such as take-off and landing when using the GCS and Datalink systems in manual flight, have been explored and brought to an unprecedented ease of operation with the close collaboration between the two companies' engineering and flight teams.

This year the RPAS P.1HH DEMO has extensively flight tested in Trapani-Birgi in Sicily (Italy) its ISR capabilities with an EO/IR sensor, managed autonomously by the Mission Management System based on Finmeccanica - Selex ES' skyISTAR.

Such capabilities will be further tested by Piaggio Aero on the P.1HH, which will also integrate the Finmeccanica - Selex ES radar Seaspray7300E managed by an enhanced version of the skyISTAR Mission Management System.