Russian Kronshtadt Group has officially released photos of the new medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned surveillance system on 23 March.
The unmanned aerial vehicle named Orion and looks like a General Atomics Aeronautical Systems МQ-9 Reaper and AVIC Wing Loong unmanned aircraft. The Orion unmanned aerial vehicle is capable of conducting air reconnaissance and giving target designation data, making images of terrain and finding enemy communications centers and places of concealed air defense systems.
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The new Russian unmanned aerial vehicle has a wingspan of 16 meters and a length of 8 meters. It has a maximum takeoff weight of 1 tonne and a maximum payload of 200 kg. Its service ceiling is 7.5 km and a maximum flight endurance of 24 hours with the standard payload. It develops a level flight speed of up to 200 km/hr.
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A complete Orion unmanned aerial system comprises four to six UAVs, a ground control station, automated take-off and landing systems, and communications elements.
According to the TASS, Kronshtadt Group intends to make the Orion export variant a strike drone, the chief executive said.
‘We are working on the complex’s modernization in an outpacing manner. We can’t disclose details but we plan to add these functions to the next version of the drone’s export configuration,” the Kronshtadt chief executive said, replying to a question about Orion’s strike variant.
