Dear EUROAVIAns,
on April 10th, members of AS Pisa had the intriguing opportunity to visit Sky Eye Systems, an Italian company founded in 2017 and located in Cascina (PI).
Our visit began with a brief yet insightful presentation of the company, delivered by Eng. Giovanni Maria Porcu. He explained that the company aims to develop a new family of Mini and Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), weighing between 25 and 150 kg, which can be certified for either civil or military use.
These UAS are designed to be employed in a wide range of applications, including land surveillance for environmental monitoring and mapping, pollution control (such as oil spill detection and illegal waste tracking), as well as public safety and civil protection operations during natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, and wildfires.
We learned about the Rapier UAS family, Rapier X-25, X-SKYSAR e X-VTOL, which are mini-light drones (weighting from 25 to 50 kg) characterised by extended endurance, up to 16 hours, and the integration of high-quality sensors.
We visited the engineering offices, the manufacturing facilities, and the in-house test rigs. They explained to us that the entire design phase is carried out internally by the company and includes material selection, aerodynamic simulations and Finite Element Analysis.
We learnt that all the tests (such as birdstrike testing, environmental tests with simulated rain to verify the impermeability of the structures, and vibration test) are very expensive and complex but are essential to validate the hardware and the behaviour of critical onboard systems and subsystems.
Later, we had the pleasure of meeting Eng. Massimo Lucchesini, President and CEO of Sky Eye Systems. He graduated in Aeronautical Engineering in 1971 from the University of Pisa. He began his career in 1976 at Aermacchi, working on aeroelasticity and flutter, and later became General Director of Alenia Aermacchi, where he led the development of the M-346 trainer aircraft.
This visit was such a motivating experience for our members that we hope to organise it again next year. Stay tuned for more exciting news!
AS Pisa