A 3D printed aircraft
has successfully launched off the front of a Royal Navy warship
and landed
safely on a Dorset beach.
(July 23, 2015) HMS
Mersey provided the perfect platform for the University of Southampton to test
out their SULSA unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
Weighing 3kg and measuring 1.5m the airframe was created on
a 3D printer using laser sintered nylon and catapulted off HMS Mersey into the
Wyke Regis Training Facility in Weymouth, before landing on Chesil Beach.
The flight, which covered roughly 500 metres, lasted less
than few minutes but demonstrated the potential use of small lightweight UAVs,
which can be easily launched at sea, in a maritime environment. The aircraft
carried a small video camera to record its flight and Southampton researchers
monitored the flight from their UAV control van with its on-board
video-cameras.
Known as Project Triangle the capability demonstration was
led by Southampton researchers, making use of the coastal patrol and fisheries
protection ship.
Professor Andy Keane, from Engineering and the Environment
at the University of Southampton, says: “The key to increased use of UAVs is
the simple production of low cost and rugged airframes – we believe our
pioneering used of 3D printed nylon has advanced design thinking in the UAV
community world-wide.”