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D&S 2013: Avia flight tests Black Kite UAS

5th November 2013 - 12:19 GMT | by Darren Lake in Bangkok

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Local Thai manufacturer Avia Satcom is displaying its domestically produced UAV, Black Kite, at the Defence & Security exhibition in Thailand.

Black Kite is a tactical UAS in the middle of its flight test programme. It started development in mid-2009 and is now flying with only two foreign subsystems: the engine and its payload.

A company spokesperson told Shephard that Avia had attempted to develop as many of the systems aboard the UAS as possible as part of a self-sufficiency strategy for the UAS, allowing the company to upgrade systems such as the autopilot without having to seek permissions from

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Author

Darren Lake

Darren has more than two decades of experience in aerospace and defence journalism. After completing …

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