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Air Force eyes French researcher's micro air vehicle design

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Staff Report 11:08 AM Friday, October 9, 2009

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Air Force Office of Scientific Research is interested in a French scientist’s design of a micro air vehicle that offers flight-control capabilities that could be useful to the military.

Jean-Marc Moschetta, an aerodynamics professor at the Institut Superieur de l’Aeronautique et de l’espace in Toulouse, France, created what he calls the MAVion. It features two counter-rotating propellers that he said are capable of making a smooth transition between hover and fast forward flight, even under adverse conditions. Moschetta’s work is funded by the European Office of Aerospace Research and Development, in London, and the French department of defense.

Moschetta’s design took top honors at the annual International Micro Air Vehicle Flight Competition in Pensacola, Fla., earlier this year. According to the Air Force, Moschetta is now looking at improving capabilities of the MAVion to fly vertically.

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research, based in Arlington, also has offices in London and Tokyo. It is part of the Air Force Research Laboratory and manages the Air Force’s basic research program.

The AFRL, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, is guiding long-term research intended to develop micro air vehicles the size of birds and, ultimately, insects that could handle surveillance in cramped environments.

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