WATCH: World’s first supersonic combat drone unveiled
The carbon-fibre aircraft can take off with up to 16,800kg of equipment, including missiles and fuel.
CAPE TOWN, March 25 (ANA) – Kelley Aerospace, a Singapore-based aviation company, has unveiled the world’s first supersonic combat drone called “Arrow”, which is said to travel faster than the speed of sound at 2,572km/h.
Singapore’s Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported on Thursday that the 14m-long unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) has been designed with a single shell with the use of moulds and does not contain a single screw.
Arrow is made up of four layers of lightweight carbon fibre and can take off with up to 16,800kg of equipment.
“The Arrow started in 2012 but we did our first test flight in 2014,” Avraham Kelley, chairman of Kelley Aerospace, told CNA.
“The aircraft is very versatile, from air-to-air combat, to civilian, to electronic warfare… you name it, it’s possible,” he said.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/_jtWrGKNfH8
Kelley added that Arrow would cost between US$9 million and US$16 million, with the programme already having attracted tremendous interest from various countries.
According to the Daily Mail, the war machine has received over 100 pre-orders.
“It’s autonomous, meaning the flight control will have to manage everything from fuel-burning to manoeuvring from point A to point B… take-off, landing, sending feedback, all from one system,” said Kelley.
“You can have hardpoints, meaning you can actually put fuel, missiles, pods for electronics or radar.
“The applications are endless,” he said.
Arrow is designed to allow for a variety of weapons to be added to it, which makes it capable of multiple combat missions.
It has been fitted with a reduced radar cross-section, infrared signature, and can be launched autonomously and controlled by a manned aircraft that would task it with a mission.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher