By Peter La Franchi in Paris
Saab’s Skeldar V-150 vertical take off and landing unmanned air vehicle, unveiled at last week’s Eurosatory exhibition in Paris, is a derivative of CybAero’s Apid 5 series UAV.
Saab Aerosystems deputy director for UAV programmes Anders Carp says the company has negotiated arrangements for use of the basic airframe and mechanical systems supplied by the fellow Linkoping, Sweden-headquartered company, but is optimising these to support Skeldar-specific requirements.
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| The new Saab Skelder V-150 UAV is a derivative of CybAero's Apid 5 |
The shaped Skeldar fairing is unique to that air vehicle, with the Apid 5 in its basic configuration using a “box” fairing arrangement. CybAero’s Apid 5 variant now entering into limited series production for the United Arab Emirates special forces has limited shaping in its fairing and a pipe-form tail boom.
Saab launched initial conceptual work on a VTOL UAV around 18 months ago, Carp says, with the Apid 5 airframe selected after a market survey. Development of the Skeldar-5 demonstrator began six months ago, with the prototype making its first remotely operated flight in April this year.
Source: Flight International
