Airbus Sagitta

Lore & Background

The Sagitta was developed under the Open Innovation initiative, which aimed to advance continuous exchange between industry and research institutes in unmanned aerial vehicle technologies. In 2010, research studies were launched at academic partner institutes including Chemnitz University of Technology, the Technical University of Munich, the University of the Bundeswehr Munich, the technical university Ingolstadt, and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Braunschweig and Oberpfaffenhofen. All partners designed and built unmanned research aircraft to demonstrate technologies from the research programme. The first flight took place on 5 July 2017 at the Denel Overberg Test Range in South Africa.

All subsystems were developed and built by the partners. Final integration and testing took place at the military aircraft centre of Airbus in Manching, Bavaria, Germany. The aircraft has a wingspan and length of approximately 3.00 m and a maximum mass of 150 kg. It is powered by two BF-300F jet engines from BF Turbines with 300 N thrust each, and offers space for several experiments. Pitch, roll and yaw control surfaces are actuated by electric actuators (fly-by-wire), and the landing gear is retracted electrically. The flight control system consists of a flight control computer, a navigation unit (differential GPS and INS), and an air data system. A mission computer manages and executes mission tasks, and the flight and mission are controlled by a ground control station. The aircraft communicates via multiple data links, and flights are fully automatic, including take-off and landing (ATOL).

Reader's Guide

The Sagitta represents a collaborative model for UAV research, bringing together multiple German universities and the DLR under the Open Innovation initiative. Its significance lies in demonstrating that a fully automatic, jet-powered blended wing-body UAV can be designed, built, and flown through a distributed partnership between industry and academia. The aircraft's first flight in 2017 validated the integration of subsystems developed by separate partners, including fly-by-wire controls, retractable landing gear, and a mission computer. The Sagitta's design as a flying-wing demonstrator with space for experiments positions it as a testbed for future UAV technologies. Its legacy is tied to the Open Innovation programme's goal of fostering continuous exchange between research institutes and industry, with the aircraft serving as a tangible outcome of that cooperation. The successful automatic take-off and landing capability, along with the use of multiple data links for communication, underscores its role as a platform for advancing autonomous flight systems.