L-3’s Mobius UAV Makes First Public Flight

The US Navy has witnessed the first public flight of the Mobius manned and unmanned aerial system built by L-3 Communications at the navy’s 5th Biennial Unmanned Systems Demonstration programme.

The aircraft has been built for low to medium-altitude, long-endurance operations in both manned and unmanned configurations with a payload capacity of 1,000lb in addition to fuel.

L-3’s Sensors and Simulation Group senior vice president of business development Todd Gautier said that the aircraft delivers greater performance than any other aircraft in its class.

“The speed, endurance, range and payload capacity of this proven platform enables it to meet a wide range of critical unmanned aircraft intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and expanded mission requirements,” Gautier said.

The Mobius has been integrated with high-performance MX-15 EO/IR turret in a retractable configuration, flightTEK fully autonomous flight control system, and mini-TCDL datalink to provide secure communications to the ground stations.