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A Martin UAV (Shield AI) V-BAT, the same model family as N461VA
A Martin UAV (Shield AI) V-BAT like this one, not N461VA itself. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryan Graves, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Operator or owner? Send your own picture.
Drone · FAA record as of October 30, 2026
N461VA

Martin UAV (Shield AI) VBAT

ValidFAA registration status code V: Valid registration. All codesDefense dronesArizona

N461VA 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 March 10, 2023 and expires on March 31, 2030. It holds an experimental airworthiness certificate for research and development; unmanned aircraft, crew training, dated April 2, 2024.

Aircraft

Maker
Martin UAV (Shield AI) (United States)
FAA spelling: MARTIN UAV
Model
VBAT · all VBATs and related versions
Built of
carbon fibre and plastic
A 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
061
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
Seats
0
Year built
2022
Transponder code
A59F2E (octal 51317456)

Registration

Status
Valid registrationFAA registration status code V (whether the registration certificate is in force). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
Certificate issued
March 10, 2023
Expires
March 31, 2030
Last FAA action
March 10, 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 · April 2, 2024
FAA region
Western-PacificFAA region code 4 (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
FAA record id
01386005

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.

Earlier use of this number 1

2017-01-10Airbus Industrie A310-222 · exported to Netherlands · Valid registration

Connections how N461VA links to the rest of the register

Design
Engine
Owner
Place
  • Sierra Vista, AZ 55 aircraft registered in this town
  • Arizona 8,422 aircraft registered

The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N461VA.json.

Records check free · 1 to understand · 4 clear

The public federal record on N461VA, 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.

CLEARRegistration and identity

Valid registration to Northrop Grumman, a corporation, certificate issued March 10, 2023, expires March 31, 2030. No fractional interest recorded. [1]

CLEARAirworthiness certificate

Experimental certificate for research and development; unmanned aircraft, crew training, dated April 2, 2024, consistent with the 2022 manufacture year. [1]

CLEARPrior registrations of this airframe

No earlier tail number is recorded against serial 061 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]

ATTENTIONTail number reuse

N461VA was previously assigned to 1 other aircraft: Airbus Industrie A310-222 (serial 367, cancelled January 10, 2017). Histories keyed to the tail number alone can mix aircraft up; this check keys on the serial number. [2]

NOTERecent registry documents

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]

CLEARAccident and incident record

No NTSB investigation records located under N461VA. CLEAR means the query ran and returned nothing, not that nothing ever happened. [4]

PENDINGTitle chain, liens and 337 forms

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.

PENDINGAirworthiness directives and utilization

AD compliance against the logbooks and flight-activity reconciliation are researched layers of the full report.

CLEAR the source was checked and shows no adverse findingATTENTION a fact a buyer or lender should understand, often routineNOTE context onlyPENDING covered by the full report
  1. FAA Releasable Aircraft Database, master file, file of October 30, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  2. FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of October 30, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  3. FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of October 30, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  4. NTSB aviation accident database (CAROL), records through September 30, 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, October 30, 2026. See this record on the FAA site · This record as data