DARTE — Dawn Aerospace Radar Tracking Experiment

DARTE was a joint New Zealand radar-tracking experiment involving Dawn Aerospace, Defence Science and Technology, and the Royal New Zealand Navy. In a two-flight campaign completed in March 2026, Aurora flew controlled profiles from Tāwhaki National Aerospace Centre while HMNZS Te Kaha used its surveillance radar to track the aircraft off the Canterbury coast. The mission gathered domestic, real-world data on detecting and tracking a high-altitude, high-speed air vehicle.