After four years on an incredibly challenging project we get to see the Sea Dart aircraft for real.
The original brief from client The Little Jet Company was to take the original 1950s US Navy Sea Dart seaborne prototype jet fighter and produce a reduced size UAV replica of the aircraft.
The project required a huge amount of research, including reviewing original engineering drawings and searching 100s of archive photos. From there 3D Scanning and Engineering Design work was used to design a scaled down aircraft made from various composite and titanium materials.
The model will be powered by scaled down jet engines, and has hydraulic, pneumatic, and electronic control systems. There is also an animatronic pilot in the cockpit.
We had a film crew around today who have been following the project and are making an hour-long documentary on the project. A big thanks to Nprime for letting us use their facilities and crane.
The next stages over the next two months will be float tests, CAA inspection, test runs on water, before trial flights and hopefully CAA certification. The air-frame is currently limited to 350 knots, but this performance envelope can be further developed in the future.
We have had huge interest in this project from those looking to develop platforms for government, filming and as a viable adaptable test bed flying. We will be like nervous parents on the first flight.
Find out more about the Sea Dart project.
