Indela Design Bureau develops VTOL UCAV

Date Posted: 25-May-2017
Author: Nikolai Novichkov, Minsk
Publication: Jane's Defence Weekly

Indela Design Bureau of Belarus has developed a combat-and-reconnaissance variant of its I.N.Sky vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that it displayed at this month's MILEX 2017 defence exhibition in Minsk.

Called the Bur, the unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) is powered by a Wankel four-stroke, water-cooled rotary engine with a power output of 40 kW and a fuel consumption of 5-8 kg/h, Indela's general designer, Vladimir Chudakov, told Jane's .
It has a fixed landing gear and features an auxiliary wing with two hardpoints for weapons. "The vehicle is fitted with an avionics suite that provides take-off, flight, hovering, and landing in automated mode, as well as the payload and onboard datalink control," the general designer said.
According to Chudakov, the VTOL UCAV is designed to engage enemy personnel, soft-skin vehicles, and buildings; suppress enemy firing positions; monitor terrain in real time; detect and track objects, calculating their co-ordinates; and transfer both TV and infrared video data.
The Bur can be used day and night, in both clear and adverse weather, from a 30 m2 unprepared airfield. The vehicle has a length of 3.052 m, a height of 1.346 m, and a rotor diameter of 3.4 m, while its auxiliary composite wings have a span of 1.8 m.

The Bur features a maximum take-off weight of 150 kg (including a 29 kg fuel load), a flight endurance of 3-5 hours, and cruises at a speed of 70 km/h.

Two containerised 90 mm rockets and an electro-optic targeting system are attached to the auxiliary wing. The stabilised targeting system incorporates a thermal imager, a colour day camera, a laser rangefinder, and a ballistic calculator. The rockets, which are fitted with folding steel tail fins and a small penetrating charge, feature a high-temperature/high-pressure blast effect and are said to be highly effective against soft-skinned targets.

COMMENT
According to Indela's general designer, this new UCAV has already sparked the interest of potential foreign customers.Each I.N.Sky unmanned air system incorporates two VTOL UAVs, a ground control station, and a mobile ground support system.Using the I.N.Sky VTOL UAV as a base model, the Indela Design Bureau plans to develop a whole family of military and civil UAVs to accomplish a wide range of tasks.