Hensoldt South Africa officially launched a production-ready model of its ASTUS TUAS at the Africa Aerospace & Defence (AAD) 2022 expo in Pretoria. (Janes/Akshara Parakala)
Hensoldt South Africa (SA), part of German sensor maker Hensoldt, officially launched a production-ready model of its ASTUS tactical unmanned aerial systems (TUASs) at the Africa Aerospace & Defence (AAD) 2022 expo in Pretoria from 21 to 25 September.
ASTUS unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), developed from 2017 by Tellumat South Africa (acquired by Hensoldt in 2021), has been modified to improve the sensor technology and flight management system to match the requirements of the market. The UAS has been fitted with the latest ARGOS-8 lightweight airborne surveillance and targeting system, which itself was launched at the AAD 2022 expo.
Speaking to Janes at the expo, Willie Malan, product manager unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), Hensoldt SA, said, “The ASTUS is designed as a persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance [ISR] platform, and with the integration of gimbal-stabilised ARGOS-8, the UAS will be able to operate as an intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance [ISTAR] platform.”
“During the extensive testing programme, the team also successfully demonstrated the performance characteristics of the UAS, which competes in the smaller tactical UAS space where there are fewer competitors, with a sales focus on tailoring the overall system offering in conjunction with offering an extremely competitive cost of ownership,” said Chris Haines, head of sales, Hensoldt SA's Optronics business unit.
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