The use of unmanned, autonomous aircraft systems for military reconnaissance missions is steadily increasing in importance. UAVs reliably cover large-scale, inaccessible areas and can record and evaluate situational assessments of situations on the ground and make them available to incident commanders. The low energy density is a hindrance for longer missions and long flight distances, especially with battery-electric systems, which is why the University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tirol and the company TWINS have successfully carried out the first flight tests with a fuel cell electric rotor drone with pressurized hydrogen tank in the preliminary project - "Hydrogen drone - funded by the state of Tyrol".

In addition to the drone's long flight duration and range, adapting such systems for military reconnaissance can bring many other advantages. These include, among other things, an increased electrical power supply for more powerful sensors and computer systems, a higher payload that can be achieved, stronger communication systems and lower noise generation compared to combustion engines for covert operations. In the HyDroneREC project, the consortium is developing two Class I flight systems: a rotorcopter and a flying wing drone, which can be powered by hydrogen and thus demonstrate flight time increases of 300 to 400 %. For this purpose, an integrative solution for the tanks in the supporting structure of the UAVs is being developed.  In order to be able to optimally support the different tasks in the context of military reconnaissance scenarios, a multi-sensor reconnaissance platform with optical, thermal and radar sensors will be integrated within the framework of HyDroneRec. The platform includes a Phase One optical camera with 150 MPxl resolution as well as 4 synchronized thermal cameras.

In addition, a compact imaging (SAR) FMCW radar system will be integrated into HyDroneRec and the development of basic functionalities for data, flight and processing management of different reconnaissance scenarios as well as interfaces for the integration of the results into a C2 system of the BMLV will be developed. In the presented project, innovative Austrian manufacturers of UAVs, TWINS and Deep Blue Aviation, in combination with the expertise in air detection by Joanneum Research in cooperation with INRAS and AVT and the stakeholders of the Austrian Armed Forces, will work on demand-oriented, innovative systems in order to be able to successfully guarantee challenging scenarios of aerial reconnaissance in the future with autonomous systems.