Centaur is an optionally piloted aircraft (OPA) system that combines the best of piloted, remotely piloted, and hybrid capabilities in a highly reliable and cost-effective aircraft. An excellent solution for operations over controlled or uncontrolled airspace, Centaur offers the high degree of safety and redundancy required for manned aircraft with the payload capacity and endurance of a large unmanned system.
source.image: Aurora Flight Sciences
entaur provides a versatile airborne sensing platform for a range of mission types including defense, intelligence, law enforcement, and environmental research. With advanced automation features, Centaur can be operated from a remote ground control station, with or without an onboard pilot.
Based on a certified twin-engine general aviation aircraft, Centaur offers a high degree of safety and redundancy, along with exceptional range, high efficiency, and extremely low life-cycle cost.
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The aircraft can be equipped with a wide variety of payloads, including EO/IR cameras, SAR (synthetic aperture radar) and multispectral sensors. It can be used for a wide variety of use cases, including defense, law enforcement, environmental research, R&D, and flight testing of new sensor technologies or uncrewed operations.
The Centaur can be flown in three modes: piloted like a normal general aviation aircraft, as an unmanned aircraft – using a completely separate control system installed where the copilot normally sits – as well as in a hybrid mode, operated as a UAV but with a crew onboard. The Centauris based on the Diamond DA42 twin-engine tourer, it has automated contingency management system, triplex flight control system and dual redundant primary flight controls, very high fuel efficiency; loiters on less than 8 gal/hr.
