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Engineers test-fly 3D printed aircraft from Royal Navy ship

September 2015 News

A 3D printed aircraft has been successfully launched from the bow of the Royal Navy vessel, HMS Mersey, and achieved a safe landing on a Dorset beach.

HMS Mersey provided the platform for the University of Southampton to test out its Sulsa unmanned aerial vehicle. Weighing 3kg and measuring 1,5 m the airframe was created on a 3D printer using laser sintered nylon. It was catapulted off HMS Mersey into the Wyke Regis Training Facility in Weymouth, before landing on Chesil Beach.

The flight, which covered roughly 500 m, lasted less than a 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.





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