A Thriving Industry: Another New UAV
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The South African company Ultimate Unmanned has launched its new Viper 1000C unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which is based on a Stemme motor glider.
The company said the idea is to lease the platform and sell air time for missions such as surveillance, border patrol, anti-piracy, pipeline monitoring, counter-terrorism, mapping, anti-smuggling, wildlife monitoring etc. Ultimate Unmanned is targeting the Middle East, amongst other regions, as parent company Ultimate Aviation has an existing footprint across Africa and the Middle East.
According to defenceweb.com, the endurance of the aircraft is 28 hours with external and internal extended endurance tanks. Maximum altitude is 25 000 feet. The 18 metre long, 1 100 kg aircraft has a cruise speed of 113 knots and is powered by a turbocharged Rotax 914 engine delivering 113 hp.
Flight is fully autonomous with automatic takeoff and landing and point to point waypoint navigation. Multiple payload options include high definition cameras, forward looking infrared systems and night vision systems. Two wing mounted hardpoints can carry up to 80 kg of payload, although total payload is up to 350 kg.
The Viper 1000C can be operated in either unmanned or piloted mode, for example it can be flown to its area of operation and then operated in unmanned mode, allowing it to operate under different airspace restrictions – as a result it can fly over populated areas and operate in civilian controlled airspace. The UAV is equipped with a transponder and traffic collision, identify and avoidance system.
The company said the aircraft can be used for both civilian and military missions and is also developing a Viper 1000M military version as well as studying rotary wing UAVs.
Ultimate Unmanned is part of the Ultimate Aviation group, including Ultimate Air (humanitarian aid, passenger and cargo operations) and Ultimate Heli (cargo and passenger transport). Ultimate Aviation caters to a wide client base, including the oil and gas sector, NGOs and individuals. The group has done work in 17 African countries and four in the Middle East.
