The Sky-Y is a medium altitude long endurance (MALE) technology demonstrator UAV by Alenia. It is design and developed in-house in-order to gain expertise in this sector. Sky-Y is similar in dimensions with the established Predator A which is already in use by the Italian Air Force.---
It has a new flight control system designed by Alenia, which uses the usual array of sensors (inertia, air-pressure and GPS). It is made entirely from composite materials and the control surfaces use electric actuators. The engine is a diesel of automotive origins that allow it to use JP-8 fuel, a big logistics advantage in operations. It has already conducted 4 test flights and another 11 are scheduled until the end of July.
An advanced mission payload is also integrated as part of the development program. The Sky-Y is equipped with the EOST45 passive Electro-Optical Surveillance and Tracking system, a Wide-Band Data-Link and a satellite data-link. These subsystems are developed from SELEX Gallileo, SELEX Communications and Telespazio, all companies (including Alenia) part of Finmeccanica group.
Sky-Y is one of the three development UAS programs of Alenia. There is also the Sky-X (left in the image below), an experimental UCAV demonstrator and the twin engine, high altitude long endurance Molynx (right in the image below) that is currently in the designing process.
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