The light-weight LUNA UAV is designed as a powered high-performance glider made of glass fiber composite material for long endurance and low acoustic, thermal and radar signatures.
A unique feature of LUNA is its ability to perform glides without engine power with no acoustic signature and to restart the engine at any time.
The microwave communication link transmits reconnaissance and system data from the UAV to the ground control station in real-time. LUNA is also able to perform fully automated reconnaissance and surveillance missions, without the need of any radio emissions by the ground station.
Another unique feature of LUNA is its inherent crash safety due to its glider performance and its reliable parachute release and landing system. In addition the LUNA UAV flight is permanently monitored by an autonomous terrain and obstacle collision avoidance system using 3D digital map data.
The use of LUNA, however, is not limited to electro-optical observation missions. Due to its modular payload concept LUNA can be fitted with future state-of-the-art payloads. including but not limited to: Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Data link relays, high resolution digital photo or video cameras, onboard data storage, meteorological sensors, radio relay equipment, sensors for land mine detection, target illuminators, EW payloads, gas and particle samplers, or radioactivity contamination sensors.
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