Defence firm Qinetiq said Monday that a plane that they developed reached an altitude of close to 18,000 metres on the 54-hour unmanned flight. The company says the plane, called Zephyr, could be used either for Earth observation or as a relay for defence, security or civil communications. The plane may not get the official record with the 54 hour flight because the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale had not been notified and was not present during the test but a second test that lasted nearly 34 hours did meet the record breaking requirements and pushed the mark by a little over 3 hours.
