Zephyr smashes its own record for the longest unmanned flight

According to flight-tracking data, Airbus has broken the record for the longest flight of an unmanned aircraft. The solar-powered Airbus Zephyr S has flown for 26 days in a row, breaking the previous record set in 2018. To avoid commercial air traffic and bad weather, the unmanned craft flies high in the atmosphere.

The plane has on-board batteries that keep it flying overnight, so it doesn't need to stop to refuel. According to flight data, the aircraft flew from the Arizona test range to Belize in Central America and back. Airbus told the BBC that it was unable to comment on the flight.

According to a spokesperson for the United States Army Futures Command's Assured Position, Navigation, and Timing/Space office, the latest flight tests are "intended to test the UAV's energy storage capacity, battery longevity, solar panel efficiency, and station-keeping abilities."

According to Tim Robinson, editor-in-chief of Aerospace magazine, this distance represents an important milestone for the aircraft's ability to travel beyond the line of sight of its operators.

"They've flown over the previous record range from 2018," he said. "It's gone somewhere else after being transmitted out to this area and beyond line-of-sight communications."