UMS V-200 (Skeldar)

History

Saab Skeldar is an unarmed rotorcraft Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). This is a relatively new development in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles, which, with a few notable exceptions, has been dominated by fixed-wing aircraft. The Skeldar uses a 55hp engine to drive a two-bladed main rotor assembly and a two-bladed tail rotor assembly to reach an altitude of 2,400 meters and operate in the same horizontal/vertical manner as a conventional helicopter. While not armed in any way, drones are more akin to earlier unmanned vehicles focused on intelligence gathering and specialized, device-centric payloads. Therefore, Skeldar was developed with maritime patrol, light transport, electronic warfare and surveillance missions in mind.

It is marketed as a multi-role solution to which the aircraft can be deployed from a land base or sea, making it an attractive product for armies and navies around the world.

Compared to fixed-wing drones, rotary-wing drones have the same advantages as manned versions of similar full-size aircraft. The rotorcraft does not require a runway to take off or land, and can hover over areas while distributing cargo without landing.

The additional advantage of unmanned helicopters is obvious, as neither the pilot nor the crew will be threatened during the mission. As a result, the Skelda has some inherent advantages in design over the traditional fixed-wing UAVs currently in service. It is controlled by the ground station and appropriate staff.

Skeldar is classified as a "medium-range" drone solution with automatic landing and take-off procedures, allowing ground crews to "hands off" the system. However, aircraft are not fully autonomous and still rely on ground control stations to change flight parameters in the air.

The design of the UAV is fairly simple, with a beautifully contoured fuselage shell, including avionics, engines, fuel depots, associated mission equipment, and tail fins. Its configuration is consistent with an all-rotor, in that the main rotor assembly is located on a short mast at the center of the design, and the small tail rotor faces the port and is driven by an inner shaft through a short fuselage rod. The entire structure rests on a reinforced two-point slide assemblyessentially a form of fixed landing gear common to many commercial and military helicopters.

The total length is 4 meters, the width is 1.2 meters, and the height is 1.3 meters. The system is approved to transport mission equipment up to 40kg with a maximum take-off weight of 200kg. It operates at a speed of about 130 km/h, has a range of up to 150 km, and has a maximum altitude of 2,400 meters.

The aircraft has a mission duration of 5 hours.

The Skeldar drone is based on the original CybAero APID 55 unmanned system. Founded in 2003, CybAero is an aerospace and defense industry contractor primarily engaged in the design and development of unmanned aerial systems.

Skeldar was born in 2005, led by Saab, culminating in the birth of the original Skeldar V-150 brand in 2006. Further research into the genre subsequently developed into the V-200 brand. Today, Skeldar remains an evolving but promising drone product.

The name Skeldar is of Norwegian origin and means "shield".

Specification

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