Israel’s Elbit Systems announced on 16 August that its Thor vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) mini-unmanned aircraft system (UAS) has completed a series of environmental qualification tests ahead of the delivery of more than 1,000 units of the system to an undisclosed army in Southeast Asia to provide it with “a networked multi-layered UAS array”.
The company said in a statement that the tests measured the operational durability of the quad-rotor system “under a range of extreme environmental conditions”, as well as its capability to withstand the physical stress requirements under the MIL-STD-810 environmental engineering standard.
Elbit Systems announced on 16 August that its Thor VTOL mini-UAS has completed a series of environmental qualification trials ahead the delivery of more than 1,000 units to a Southeast Asian army, which is believed to be the Philippine Army. (Elbit Systems)
“The tests demonstrated the capability of Thor to maintain operability in temperatures varying from -40ºC up to +65ºC, withstand hard gusting rain and rough vibrations, and resist penetration and damage from blowing sand and dust,” added the company.
The planned delivery of the UASs is part of a USD153 million contract announced on 6 October 2019. At the time Elbit said the contract would also include “scores of Skylark LEX, Skylark 3, and Hermes 450 tactical UASs as well as the company’s Universal Ground Control Stations (GCSs)”.
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