MAKS 2011: Zala Aero unveils new UAV

16th August 2011 - 16:00 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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Russian unmanned systems manufacturer Zala Aero Group used the MAKS 2011 airshow in Moscow to unveil a new UAS, which it says has already been purchased by a Russian security agency.

Under development for the past 14 months, the ZALA 421-16E tactical UAS is a 2.8m flying wing in a pusher propeller configuration and is equipped with a colour PAL camera with ‘HD quality’ resolution.

A company spokesman said after demonstrating the system to various government departments, the security agency expressed its interest and four systems have now been signed for.

He said interest was also being generated in the company’s range of UAS platforms due to the security requirements of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi on the Black Sea coast. The 421-16E was also providing overwatch during MAKS itself.

The 10kg UAS incorporates a specially-developed payload stabilisation and independent inertial system, which reduces camera shake and digital noise, and has already undergone 120 hours of flight tests.

With a range of 45km, a three to four hour endurance and an operational ceiling of 3500m, the UAS is launched by catapult and recovered by parachute. The electric engine provides a speed range of 60-110 km/h and the platform can optionally be fitted with a TAU 640 thermal imaging camera.

The company has also released the gyrostablised payload as a separate product range for small to medium UAS. The ZALA-G3 payload features a colour PAL block camera with a 10x optical zoom in combination with optional 2x digital and provides NTSC video stream at 30 frames per second with resolution 640x480.