Manufacturer UMS Skeldar has launched a new version of its R-350 vertical take-off and landing UAV. The platform, launched at the Dubai Air Show, offers an ability to carry up to 80kg (176lb) of payload for over two hours and provides a jet-turbine engine propulsion system that uses Jet A1 and JP8 heavy fuels.
The R-350 has a modular design that, UMS Skeldar said, “can easily be certified for aerospace classifications and combines a short turnaround time and builtin test functionality”. The platform includes a complete propulsion unit that the manufacturer claims can be replaced in less than 45 minutes, and a jet turbine that can be changed in less than 15 minutes.
The R-350 being below 150kg (330lb) maximum take-off weight means the system requires only national certification. It is designed to deploy multiple payloads at the same time in its two payload bays: for example, an electro-optical/ infrared camera together with laser imaging detection and ranging or chemical sniffer equipment. A number of commercial off-the-shelf high-resolution sensors are available for the system, UMS Skeldar says. The R-350 measures 1.15m (3.7ft) in height, is 0.99m (3.26ft) wide and 3.2m (10.5ft) long, with a 3.5m (11.5ft) rotor diameter. It can carry 12kg (26lb) of payload in the nose or more than 30kg (110lb) in its main bay. Ceiling is 8,200ft (2,500m), maximum speed 65kts (120km/h) its data link range 13.5 nautical miles (25km) with a two-hour endurance. Mark Broadbent
Kalashnikov moves into UAVs
Russia’s Kalashnikov, part of the Rostec State Corporation, announced on November 28 that in addition to designing and building UAVs it would operate them in civil missions, including, Kalashnikov Chief Executive Officer Alexeiy Krivoruchko was quoted as saying, “aerial survey, mapping, telecommunications, cargo delivery, virus disease monitoring, forest and private object protection and meteorology”. These missions would be carried out by a range of Kalashnikov designed and produced UAVs currently being tested. A heavy cargo UAV is currently planned to enter production in 2018.
The ZALA Aero Group, a subsidiary of the Rostec’s Kalashnikov Group, is currently marketing three vertical take-off and landing UAVs. The lightweight ZALA 421-21 is a portable multicopter powered by six electric engines and launched by hand for monitoring missions.
The larger ZALA 421-22 multicopter powered by eight electric engines has a maximum take-off weight of 8kg (3.6lb), a 2kg (0.9lb) payload and can carry a video camera or a thermal imager.
The ZALA 421-02X has a 90kg (40lb) maximum take-off weight, a 25kg (11.3lb) payload and is powered by a combustion engine.
In June 2017, the ZALA Aero Group used the Paris Air Show to announce it had launched mass production of its ZALA 421-16E2 small fixed-wing UAV. This system has four-hour endurance, a range of 27 nautical miles (50km) and is equipped with a day camera. David
C Isby and Mark Broadbent
Resupply UAV
The US Marine Corps will evaluate disposable cargo-carrying unpowered UAVs launched from aircraft in flight. The US Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory at Quantico Virginia will test glider versions of the Yates Electrospace Corporation Silent Arrow. Unmanned systems with 500– 1,000lb (225–450kg) gross weight will be tested over a 12-month period to demonstrate a capability of a UAV to be launched from a transport or rotary-wing aircraft at 10,000- 25,000ft (3,048-7,620m) altitude. The UAVs will need to achieve a glide ratio of between 8:1 and 15:1 with a load of 700lb (217kg) and land within 150ft (45m) of a target point. The test will examine potential of UAVs to resupply troops in contact. David C Isby
UAE orders Seekers from South Africa
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has ordered AED 48.1 million worth of Seeker UAVs from South Africa, and these will join its existing fleet. The order was announced during the Dubai Air Show by official spokesperson Staff Pilot Air-Vice Marshal Abdulla Al Sayed Al Hashemi. He said on November 15 that the $13.3 million deal with the UAE was signed with Denel Dynamics “to procure Seeker aircraft”, but did not indicate whether this was the Seeker 200 or Seeker 400. The UAE received at least seven Seeker II systems between 2002 and 2010, and deployed them to Afghanistan and Yemen. Guy Mar
ScanEagle in Australia
Boeing Insitu has been awarded a contract to provide remotely piloted aircraft services flying beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) for Shell and its Queensland (Australia) Gas Company business in the Surat Basin in eastern Australia.
The company is supplying the ScanEagle system and analytics services to provide broad acre infrastructure operations and maintenance, following a twoyear evaluation by Shell of the ScanEagle and the aerial sensing, data analysis and data distribution systems provided by Insitu Commercial.
The BVLOS flight operations using the ScanEagle are conducted in the Surat Basin over a broad area of Civil Aviation Safety Authorityapproved airspace encompassing over 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres). The systems are being used to assess infrastructure, including wells, tanks, valves, floats, vents and pipes, and the environment surrounding the infrastructure, such as fencing integrity, road subsidence and flooding. Insitu says assessment times and the resolution of problems with infrastructure have speeded up, with the data collected by the ScanEagle automatically processed and analysed in near real time to both the Brisbane headquarters and field operators. Mark Broadbent
NOMAD electronic warfare UAV
The US Navy has carried out shipboard tests of the Netted Offboard Miniature Active Decoy (NOMAD), an expendable rotary-wing UAV aboard the littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) off the California coast. The shipboard tests, which took place in August, were part of a larger testing programme that concluded in October. Previous shipboard tests of the NOMAD had been primarily focused on individual UAV performance. The Coronado tests successfully demonstrated multi- UAV launch, operation and recovery.
Intended to be tube launched for rapid deployment as a decoy platform and recoverable by landing vertically on shipboard, the NOMAD has been used to develop swarm technology, allowing multiple UAVs to deploy themselves in an optimal pattern to defend a ship. The Naval Research Laboratory, which developed the NOMAD design in conjunction with the Office of Naval Research, conducted the tests on board the Coronado and is using it as a testbed for the development of remote controls, autonomous flight controls, station keeping and coordinated flight support. David C Isby
Blade inspections
In another sign of the broad commercial applications UAVs are taking on, unmanned systems have recently been used to inspect wind turbine blades in the North Sea.
Martek Aviation used small UAVs to inspect all 264 blades on the 88 wind turbines that make up Statoil’s Sheringham Shoal windfarm off the Norfolk coast. Two hundred flights were undertaken to carry out the inspections, with eight minutes spent on each turbine gathering data about the blades.
The live video feed from the UAVs enabled Statoil engineers to instantly assess the condition of the turbine blades, thereby avoiding the downsides of using a camera from the ground and removing the requirement for engineers to climb the turbines to carry out checks. Senior Engineer Statoil for Sheringham Shoal, Dale Symonds said Statoil is talking to Martek about how they can work together at other windfarms. Martek has recently set up a division specialising in providing maritime UAV services. Mark Broadbent
