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| Wednesday,
January 18, 2012, 06:30 PM |
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| Russia
allocates $160 million fo development of three types of Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles UAV |
| Russian
Helicopters has received 5 billion rubles ($160 mln) from the federal
budget for the development of three types of unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAV). After charging that smaller domestic developers wasted public funds
- and pointedly purchasing Israeli drones for military trials - the Defense
Ministry has switched to a big holding with sufficient capacity to develop
and produce indigenous UAVs.
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Scale model
of Ka-135 Unmanned Aerial vehicle (Photo credit Vitaly Kuzmin)
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According
to the Gazeta.ru portal, the company has been contracted by the Russian
Defense Ministry to develop light-, medium-, and heavy-weight rotary UAVs
for reconnaissance, strike and transportation purposes.
A prototype of a short-range drone, Ka-135, with carrying capacity of
up to 100 kg, must be developed by 2015.
A heavy-weight UAV, dubbed Albatros, is expected to be developed by 2017.
It can be used as a strike or transport drone.
The most recent contract envisions the development of a medium-weight
UAV with operational range of up to 300 km.
If successful, Russian Helicopters may receive additional funding in the
future to develop two more types of UAVs to be delivered to the military
and police.
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