The Israeli UAV Industry – The Panther
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עברית (Hebrew)
The third article in the series on the Israeli UAV Industry.
By ARIE EGOZI
Two years after a joint venture between IAI and Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAL) aimed at developing an unmanned version of the Dhruv helicopter was abandoned , the Israeli company is now moving ahead alone.
A source said that this time the plan is to use a more advanced helicopter of the Eurocopter EC-145 class that has a fly by wire flight control system.
The source added that the unmanned helicopter will be designed to meet the MTCR 2 regulations that are aimed at limiting the range and carrying capability of unmanned systems. Israel has not signed the MTCR treaty but follows its limitations.
IAI has identified a need for an unmanned helicopter for military use especially on navy ships. Other potential customers are emergency services that have to operate in danger zones.
While the full sized vertical takeoff UAS is still in development , IAI has continued to improve the performance of its mini vertical takeoff UAS. The company has installed a new power pack comprised of two separate Lithium-ion (Li On) batteries into its Panther tilt rotor UAS. It allows this UAS to stay in the air with a payload for over 6 hours. While one battery is used for the vertical takeoff and landing the other is used for the cruising.
The Panther uses an innovative automatic flight control system that controls the transitions between the hovering takeoff phase to forward flight and vice versa before landing. The source explained that this system also controls the transition from one battery to the other. The Panther takes off and lands automatically by a simple click of the operator console, thus eliminating the need for an external pilot.
The Panther is powered by 3 ultra-quiet electrical motors, has a takeoff weight of 65 kg and can be equipped with different payloads.
