Ukrainian private defense firm Ramzay unveiled its RZ-500 rotary-wing combat unmanned aerial vehicle concept at the Arms and Security exhibition held in Kyiv from 15-18 June.
The RZ-500 concept is currently envisioned to be a low-observable, missile-armed, multipurpose unmanned combat air vehicle with an endurance of up to 120 minutes and a range of 300 km.
The drone helicopter can be armed with unguided rockets, stand-off precision-guided munitions, anti-tank missiles, and heavy machine guns installed in a special pod. RZ-500 armed unmanned aerial system, in its current configuration, can carry at least two anti-tank missiles, such as the Barrier-V, or rocket pods.
The 500 kg missile-armed drone, which is equipped with a gas-piston engine, is stated to have a service ceiling of 4,000 m.
The combat unmanned aerial vehicle can fly in fully autonomous mode, including auto take-off and landing with a return-to-home recovery option, according to HAL. It uses GPS for interactive command and control with completely programmable mission management computers.
The rotorcraft takes off vertically using a two-blade main rotor with a teetering head. The tubular skid landing gear is attached to the helicopter’s fuselage structure to facilitate safe landing even on hard surfaces.
Ukrainian RZ-500 unmanned combat helicopter concept pic.twitter.com/JtWpoQkDkw
— Dylan Malyasov (@DylanMalyasov) June 22, 2021