Ramona Adams
A Leonardo-built family of unmanned aircraft systems has achieved more than 15,000 hours of operational flight with five international customers.
Leonardo said Monday the Falco line of remotely-piloted air vehicles first flew in 2003 and has since expanded to include more than 50 RPAs that conduct surveillance and intelligence-gathering worldwide.
Customers can choose to fly their own Falco or hire Leonardo to serve as the aircraft operator delivering surveillance data.
Falco customers include the United Nations, which uses the service to support humanitarian operations under the Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Falco’s latest model is called Falco Evo and has been ordered by two undisclosed clients in the Middle East and Gulf region.
Evo is designed to carry up to 220 pounds of payload as well as provide more than 20 hours of flight time, making it the longest-endurance variant of Falco.
