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Martin UAV (Shield AI) VBAT
N443VA is a Martin UAV (Shield AI) VBAT, a fixed-wing airplane with one motor with a two-stroke engine, built in 2022. It is unmanned. It is registered to Northrop Grumman, a corporation in Sierra Vista, Arizona. The registration is valid: it was issued on December 12, 2022 and expires on December 31, 2029. It holds an experimental airworthiness certificate for research and development; unmanned aircraft, crew training, dated March 11, 2025.
Aircraft
- Maker
- Martin UAV (Shield AI) (United States)FAA spelling: MARTIN UAV
- Model
- VBAT · all VBATs and related versions
- Built of
- carbon fibre and plasticA drone: a carbon-fibre or moulded plastic frame carrying electric motors, batteries and the flight computer. This is how the Martin UAV (Shield AI) V-BAT family is built; the FAA does not record construction for each aircraft, and the type certificate data sheet is the authority for this one.
- Serial number
- 043
- Type
- Fixed-wing, single engineFAA type of aircraft code 4 (the FAA's broad category for the airframe). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
- Power
- Two-cycle pistonFAA type of engine code 7 (what powers it, as the FAA classes engines). Every aircraft with this code · All codes, 1 motor · Suter TOA 288 · 24 hp
- Fuel
- 100LL avgas
- Seats
- 0
- Year built
- 2022
- Transponder code
- A5579E (octal 51253636)
Registration
- Status
- Valid registrationFAA registration status code V (whether the registration certificate is in force). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
- Certificate issued
- December 12, 2022
- Expires
- December 31, 2029
- Last FAA action
- September 22, 2023
- Airworthiness
- ExperimentalFAA airworthiness class code 4 (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). Every aircraft with this code · All codes · Research and development; Unmanned aircraft, crew trainingFAA certificate purpose code 19C (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). All codes · March 11, 2025
- FAA region
- Western-PacificFAA region code 4 (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
- FAA record id
- 01386003
Owner as the FAA publishes it
- Name
- Northrop Grumman
- Type
- CorporationFAA type of owner code 3 (who holds the registration: a person, a company, a trust or a government body). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
- Address
- 4067 Enterprise Way
Sierra Vista, AZ 85635-2273
Owners can ask the FAA to withhold their name and address from public files. When they do, those fields are blank here as well. How that works.
Documents on file 0
No bills of sale, loans or other documents are indexed against this tail number.
Connections how N443VA links to the rest of the register
- Martin UAV (Shield AI) V-BAT 46 registered
- Martin UAV (Shield AI) 46 aircraft on the register
- Built of carbon fibre and plastic · as the model family is built; the register does not record it per aircraft
- Suter TOA 288 5 aircraft with this engine series · 24 hp
- Northrop Grumman 4 aircraft registered to this organisation
- Sierra Vista, AZ 55 aircraft registered in this town
- Arizona 8,436 aircraft registered
The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N443VA.json.
Records check free · 2 to understand · 3 clear
The public federal record on N443VA, read the way a buyer, lender or insurer reads it: FAA registration, prior tail numbers keyed on the serial number, reuse of the tail number, recent registry filings, and the NTSB accident record under this and every earlier registration.
Valid registration to Northrop Grumman, a corporation, certificate issued December 12, 2022, expires December 31, 2029. No fractional interest recorded. [1]
The airworthiness certificate on file is dated March 11, 2025, 3 years after the 2022 manufacture year. A re-issued certificate commonly follows export and re-import, a rebuild, or a return to the register after cancellation. The cause is documented in the FAA aircraft records file, which the full report obtains. [1]
No earlier tail number is recorded against serial 043 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]
No other airframe has carried N443VA according to the deregistered file. [2]
No bills of sale, loans or releases have reached the registry in recent weeks. The index covers only recent filings; older liens are in the records file. [3]
1 NTSB record under N443VA: Accident on April 8, 2025 at Douglas, AZ: no injuries, substantial damage. Details below. [4]
These live in the FAA aircraft records file (every document ever filed against the aircraft) and, for larger aircraft, the International Registry. Part of the full report.
AD compliance against the logbooks and flight-activity reconciliation are researched layers of the full report.
NTSB records 1
Aircraft on the NTSB record: Martin UAV VBAT · operated under 091
The malfunction of the throttle servo which resulted in the complete loss of engine power.
Full record in plain English · Docket and reports at the NTSB
- FAA Releasable Aircraft Database, master file, file of November 10, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of November 10, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of November 10, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- NTSB aviation accident database (CAROL), records through October 28, 2026. data.ntsb.gov/carol-main-public/basic-search
This automated check reads the public federal record. Nothing here is a legal opinion, an appraisal or a statement about the aircraft's condition; a CLEAR line is a statement about the searched record, not the aircraft.
Source: FAA Civil Aviation Registry, Releasable Aircraft Database, November 10, 2026. See this record on the FAA site · This record as data