Issue 40 Unmanned Systems Technology October/November 2021 ANYbotics ANYmal D l AI systems focus l Aquatic Drones Phoenix 5 l Space vehicles insight l Sky Eye Rapier X-25 l FlyingBasket FB3 l GCS focus l AUVSI Xponential 2021

60 S ky Eye Systems (SES) is an aeronautics company headquartered in Cascina, in the Italian province of Pisa. Founded in February 2017, it is headed by Massimo Lucchesini, who is a former CEO and general manager of Alenia Aermacchi (now merged into Leonardo’s Aircraft and Aerostructures division). Lucchesini and his company are behind the development of the Rapier X-25 UAV, a fixed-wing aircraft designed for carrying an EO/IR payload as part of a 25 kg MTOW. The X-25 is currently one of very few unmanned aircraft to undergo both civil and military certification, having already achieved the latter at time of writing. This rapid validation of its engineering is among the main reasons that the Rapier X-25 is now used by the Italian Air Force. The craft is flown from the Amendola Air Base, home of the 32nd Wing of the Aeronautica Militare Italiana under the Remotely Piloted Aircraft Centre Of Excellence there. SES is also in talks about its adoption by the Italian Army. “Our company’s engineering is based mainly on my experiences in the aerospace world,” says Lucchesini. “I started my career in 1971 as an engineer with the Italian Air Force, initially on different missile programmes and the Rory Jackson looks at how this survey UAV offers the endurance and performance of craft up to 10 times its weight No small matter October/November 2021 | Unmanned Systems Technology The Rapier X-25 is a 25 kg UAV currently flown by the Italian Air Force for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions (Images courtesy of Sky Eye Systems)