{"id":94675,"date":"2018-08-10T08:48:03","date_gmt":"2018-08-10T08:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=2da1336415f3137a6650d7d0d2625c53"},"modified":"2018-08-10T08:48:03","modified_gmt":"2018-08-10T08:48:03","slug":"news-story-joint-forces-command-operational-concept-demonstrator-flies-for-over-25-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=94675","title":{"rendered":"News story: Joint Forces Command Operational Concept Demonstrator flies for over 25 days"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>The Zephyr-S operates in the stratosphere at an average altitude of 70,000 feet and could support a wide range of applications, including land and maritime surveillance, and a variety of communication tasks. It runs exclusively on solar power, flying above the weather and conventional air traffic; filling a capability gap complimentary to satellites, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (<abbr title=\"Unmanned Aerial Vehicles\">UAV<\/abbr>) and manned aircraft to provide persistent local satellite-like services.<\/p>\n<p>The ultra-lightweight <abbr title=\"Unmanned Aerial Vehicles\">UAV<\/abbr>, made by Airbus, began its maiden flight in Arizona, USA, on 11 July 2018 and touched down on 6 August 2018.<\/p>\n<p>It was airborne for 25 days, 23 hours, 57 minutes, easily surpassing the old record of 14 days, 22 minutes and eight seconds, which was set by a previous version of the Zephyr <abbr title=\"Unmanned Aerial Vehicles\">UAV<\/abbr>.  As a result, an application has been made to establish this as a new world record.<\/p>\n<p>Working to Joint Forces Command, the Defence Equipment and Support Technology Office is delivering the <abbr title=\"Operational Concept Demonstrator\">OCD<\/abbr> to improve MOD\u2019s understanding of how the innovative and cutting-edge technologies employed in a <abbr title=\"High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite\">HAPS<\/abbr> capability might be utilised to deliver operational effect to inform future acquisition projects.<\/p>\n<p>The <abbr title=\"Operational Concept Demonstrator\">OCD<\/abbr> contract with Airbus was signed in 2016 and includes the purchase of three Zephyr-S platforms, with further flight trials planned for the coming months.<\/p>\n<p>General Sir Chris Deverell, Comd <abbr title=\"Joint Forces Command\">JFC<\/abbr>, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">This is a great example of how <abbr title=\"Joint Forces Command\">JFC<\/abbr> is at the heart of innovation for UK Defence. We are demonstrating new technology that puts our Armed forces at the cutting edge of communication and surveillance.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Joint Forces Command High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite Operational Concept Demonstrator aircraft has surpassed the world flight endurance record without refuelling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94675"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94675\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}