Martin UAV is looking like the one to beat in medium range right now, and it's a pretty slick tailsitter design. If I was a betting man, I'd say that it's going to eat ScanEagle's lunch sometime in the next few years, or get bought. Which, ugh, the latter seems more likely, sad to say.
I'm not with Martin, but scuttlebutt is that the flight controls take into account takeoff and landing winds, then use that to adjust the flight attitude on approach and takeoff, since the wind can add to the effective airspeed for rotation.
Once it tags the ground the flight procedures have it nail itself to the pad double quick. That's about the only dodgy part, but they've done it from the back of a speeding truck and it looked fine. Hell of a lot finer than "drive the plane into a rubber band hanging from a stick".
I'm not with Martin, but scuttlebutt is that the flight controls take into account takeoff and landing winds, then use that to adjust the flight attitude on approach and takeoff, since the wind can add to the effective airspeed for rotation.
Once it tags the ground the flight procedures have it nail itself to the pad double quick. That's about the only dodgy part, but they've done it from the back of a speeding truck and it looked fine. Hell of a lot finer than "drive the plane into a rubber band hanging from a stick".