UAVOS, in collaboration with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in Saudi Arabia, is developing a next-generation model of its Saker Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) family of unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The Saker-1C has been redesigned in order to improve a wide variety of facets of the unmanned aircraft, and to incorporate next-generation capabilities such as state-of-the-art autonomy, navigation, communications, sensor processing and counter-electronic warfare.
The new unmanned aircraft will be capable of carrying a range of payloads, including SAR (synthetic aperture radar), gyro-stabilized EO/IR gimbals, and tactical digital video data links. Designed for missions such as long-endurance surveillance, communications relay and search & rescue, it will feature fully redundant control systems and avionics, and switch seamlessly between a direct line of sight (LOS) link and onboard satellite communication (SATCOM) for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations.
The aircraft’s payload capacity has been increased to 660 lb (300 kg) from the Saker-1B, with more than 100 percent more fuel capacity due to retrofitting of long-endurance wings with greater internal storage. With a maximum endurance of 30 hours and a maximum speed of 110 knots, the Saker-1C will be able to reach an altitude of 23,000 feet (7000 m). The addition of fowler flaps and interceptors will improve the UAV’s lift augmentation capability, and upgrades in manufacturing technologies will provide a stronger body structure, allowing for quick and easy maintenance without adding to its weight. The dry weight of the aircraft has been reduced tо 600kg thanks to modern composite technologies.
Aliaksei Stratsilatau, UAVOS CEO and Lead Developer, commented: “We are proud to introduce another advanced development and joint successful project from UAVOS and KACST. The successful flight demonstrations and operational tests reflect Saker’s reliability and quality, together with its advanced technological capabilities. There is no doubt that the Saker-1C gives its users significant operational advantages. We consider the Saker-1C UAS to be a leading system with considerable sales potential.”
