| Malaysian Firm To Produce Male Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Next Year |
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| Written by webmaster |
| Tuesday, 08 December 2009 07:22 |
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LANGKAWI, Dec 3 (Bernama) -- By next year, Malaysia will become the first country in this region to produce its own Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) code-named "Yabhon Aludra".
Unmanned Systems Technology (UST) Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Composite Technology Research Malaysia (CTRM), will start producing the strategic-level UAV at its plant in Melaka.
UST Head Muhammad Khalizi Abdul Razak said the cutting-edge "Yabhon Aludra" UAV was developed by his company jointly with its partner, Adcom System, from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
"It is cutting edge and highly capable, its MALE level and capability are similar to its famous counterpart "Predator UAV" used extensively by the United States' armed forces to fight terrorism," he told BERNAMA in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) Exhibition 2009 here Thursday.
Muhammad Khalizi said it took UST and Adcom eight years to develop the Yabhon Aludra from the initial design stage to flight testing and production.
Muhammad Khalizi said the length and height of Yabhon Aludra are about 5m by 2.12m while its wingspan is 6.56m with a maximum 500kg take-off weight.
The UAV is capable of operating for 30 hours non-stop from an altitude of 4,500m covering over 500km in range using data link and satellite-based ground station, he said.
He said UST and CTRM, the parent company, would sell Yabhon Aludra to security agencies in Malaysia such as the armed forces, Police, Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency, National Security Council and Royal Malaysia Customs.
"Our market is not confined to Malaysia alone but also regional as we find there is huge demand among homeland security agencies for every level and type of UAV from miniature to the HALE (High Altitude Long Endurance)," he said.
Muhammad Khalizi said Yabhon Aludra, a high performance and efficient UAV built from fibre-epoxy material completely vacuum-bagged for maximum strength, is capable of carrying special-use sensor, thermal imager, infrared sensor, laser designator, range finder and electro-optical sensors.
Besides Yabhon Aludra, UST also produces tactical-level UAV named "Aludra" which has been in operations with the armed forces in the east coast of Sabah.
Currently, three Aludras are operating there, he said, adding that the company was satisfied with their performance, added Muhammad Khalizi.
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| Last Updated on Monday, 14 December 2009 08:02 |