US Army’s solar-powered spy drone breaks record with 40 DAYS in flight – and ‘entered international airspace’

A US Army drone continues to beat its own flight record and has now been in flight for more than 40 days.

Zephyr is a solar powered drone with a wingspan of 82 feet.

It was manually launched in Arizona on June 15.

Every minute that passes, it breaks its own record for the longest drone flight.

The Zephyr was designed to remain in the stratosphere for a long period of time, so the test was successful.

The stratosphere is the second layer in the Earth’s atmosphere and is commonly used for things like supersonic flight.

According to Breaking Defense, the previous record for a drone’s continuous flight was 26 days.

A spokesman for the US Army said PopSci that the drone is still in the air.

This is the Zephyr’s first flight in 2022, but the craft was tested earlier as the Army made the necessary modifications.

In a statement about this recent flight, the Army said the drone “demonstrated Zephyr’s energy storage capability, battery life, solar panel efficiency and station-keeping capabilities, which will further the Army’s goal of ultra-long-life stratospheric UAVs.”

The current drone flight is said to be the first time over international airspace.

This is also the first time a drone has flown over water.

Michael Monteleone, director of an Army group called APNT/Space CFT, said: “Ultra-endurance unmanned platforms have the potential to deliver significant military capability and enhance confidence within the Army’s diversified multi-tiered architecture.”

The flight is going so well that another one is planned in the coming weeks.