ANTEX-M (, Military Experimental Unmanned Aircraft) is a family of small- and medium-sized

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...

s developed by the

Portuguese Air Force The Portuguese Air Force () is the air force, aerial warfare force of Portugal. Locally it is referred to by the acronym FAP but internationally is often referred to by the acronym PRTAF. It is the youngest of the three branches of the Portuguese ...

in partnership with several universities and institutes. The development program is part of the PITVANT program and is funded by the Portuguese National Defense Ministry until 2015. The objective of the ANTEX-M is not to develop a fully operational UAV system to execute PoAF missions but to demonstrate aeronautical technology and support research and development projects of the Portuguese Air Force Academy and other academic and industrial partners.

History

The first program for the development of the ANTEX M was created by the Portuguese Air Force in 2002. This program had the objective of jointly researching and developing an experimental military UAV with the

Portuguese Air Force Academy The Portuguese Air Force Academy (AFA, ''Academia da Força Aérea'' in Portuguese) is a Portuguese military higher education institution whose aim is to provide all its students with the training and the experience that will enable them to gr ...

's Investigation Center () and several national and international institutes, universities, and industry partners (

EDISOFT Thales Edisoft – ''Thales Edisoft Portugal, S.A''. is a company of Thales Group Thales S.A., Trade name, trading as Thales Group (), is a French multinational corporation, multinational aerospace and defence industry, defence corporation sp ...

). The program's cost was estimated to be

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

2 million and was canceled before starting due to lack of funding. Another program, under the same name, was established in partnership with the

Technical Institute An institute of technology (also referred to as technological university, technical university, university of technology, polytechnic university) is an institution of tertiary education that specializes in engineering, technology, applied science ...

(IST) of the University of Lisbon for the development of a remotely controlled vehicle for flight testing new aeronautical composites and materials. During this program the ANTEX-M models X00, X01 and X02 were developed and participated in the European projects Active Aeroelastic Aircraft Structures (3AS) and Aircraft Reliability Through Intelligent Materials Application (ARTIMA). From 2006 to 2008, the Air Force Academy and the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) collaborated in developing an autonomous flight control system for unmanned aircraft. In 2007, the Portuguese Air Force created the PITVANT (, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Investigation and Technology Project), and presented it as a proposal to the National Defense Ministry for the allocation of €2 million in funding to be distributed during the seven years in which the project would be active. The project focus on the design, construction and testing of small and medium UAV platforms, interoperability of unmanned systems, data fusion, navigation systems. Included is also the testing of the systems in military scenarios, such as: maritime patrol, search and rescue, coastal surveillance, sea pollution control, and reconnaissance. The development of the ANTEX-M as part of PITVANT involves the FEUP (AsasF Project), IST, Institute of Geodesy and Navigation at the University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich, and the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

Specifications (ANTEX-M X03)

Operators

: At least 4 units received, all built by

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Antex-M
AsasF FEUP
Alfa
ANTEX-M Alfa vehicle
PITVANT
Portuguese Air Force Academy {{DEFAULTSORT:Antex-m Twin-boom aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Unmanned experimental aircraft

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

ANTEX-M High-wing aircraft Aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear Twin-tail aircraft