Elistair rolls out tethered drone for comms relay missions
The Orion HL has been beta-tested by partners including the Norwegian Army. (Photo: Elistair)
The Elistair Orion HL is designed for use as a persistent relay solution to form part of a secured mobile network.
Elistair has unveiled the Orion Heavy Lift (HL) tethered UAS to support growing demand for variable-height antennas from military, public safety and homeland security customers.
Tethered drones can enable the establishment and extension of secured mobile networks, with rapid deployment and persistence in the air.
The HL is based on the Orion platform used by over 30 countries for ISR missions, with the same levels of automation, ruggedisation and safety architecture. It can carry a 4kg payloads to 90m and 5kg to 50m altitudes, with a flight duration of 50h
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'The introduction of the Heavy Lift version... provides us with a very useful tool for lifting communication equipment to create temporary communication coverage in challenging areas of operation,' a representative of the Norwegian Army Combined Arms Battle Laboratory said in an Elistair release.
A beta-testing programme with selected partners has allowed successful integration of a CORDIS Array II from Radionor, a 5G relay and a SIGINT payload.
First deliveries of Orion HL are planned for late May 2023.
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