Cranfield Aerospace Unveils Stringray Multi-Role Drone

Cranfield Aerospace Solutions (CAeS) this week unveiled its ST-5 Stingray multi-role long-endurance drone at the Dubai Airshow. The UK technology group, which backed by Abu Dhabi’s Strategic Development Fund, also announced a partnership with the UK-based National Oceanographic Centre (NOC) that could see the uncrewed aircraft deployed for ocean monitoring.

The Stingray has an 18-foot wingspan and a hydrogen-electric propulsion system. CAeS, which has previously been working on plans to convert regional and utility aircraft to use its Genesis hydrogen-electric powertrain, has fast-tracked the development of the drone in work that only started in June.

According to CAeS, the blended-wing Stingray’s distributed propulsion system means that it will offer up to 60% more payload volume than conventional, multi-role aircraft of a similar weight. The company has not yet released performance data covering projected range, endurance and speed.

The NOC is looking to deploy the new drone as part of its ARIA Forecasting Tipping Point program. This is aimed at understanding the processes that could contribute to a potential shutdown of the ocean convection in the North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre, in which excessive freshwater from melting ice could lead to significant climate cooling in Western Europe and disruption to marine ecosystems.

 “The Stingray UAV offers exceptional endurance and payload capacity, making it an attractive platform for advancing our goals of long-term, low-cost, zero-emission airborne data collection,” commented NOC principal scientist Christine Gommenginger.

According to CAeS’s chief technology officer, Paul Clarke, the ST-5 is the first drone specifically designed to maximize the benefits of a hydrogen powertrain and be able to operate in challenging environmental conditions. “The aerodynamic efficiency of the design, combined with the integration efficiency of our modular fuel cell technology, creates a step change in mission performance and provides significant real estate to accommodate diverse payloads,” he said.

The Strategic Development Fund is part of the Edge Group, which this week announced a joint venture with defense technology specialist Anduril to develop the Omen autonomous aerial vehicle. This will be powered by the battery-electric propulsion system developed by Archer Aviation for its Midnight eVTOL aircraft.