ATE-Aerospace,
South Africa: The production phase for the South African Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) will soon commence, following the signing of a contract between Armscor and the local Advanced Technologies and Engineering Company (ATE) in July this year.
ATE will supply the South African Army Artillery with a number of UAV's, commonly known as the “Vulture”. This production agreement confirms that the South African Defence Industry has the capability to develop an indigenous system that can be deployed both locally and abroad.
The Vulture is tailor-made to suit the harsh African environment. It is deployable in 30 minutes in an unprepared terrain. Furthermore, the take-off and landing (recovery) of the aircraft is fully automated. In other words, the system does not require a runway. This feature makes the system unique and highly sophisticated. An operational Test and Evaluation exercise was completed in a period of two weeks, which resulted in 23 flights and successful recoveries by day and by night.
Vulture, the Pride of the African skies, has made South Africa part of an elite club of countries that have Tactical UAVs, able to perform both artillery missions but also peacekeeping missions as an airborne surveillance asset.
