The Russian Ministry of Defense has unveiled new footage of a 6-ton unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), capable of flying long-duration missions for 24-hours.
Dubbed the Altius-U drone, it can conduct a wide variety of reconnaissance missions for 24-hours at a time.
A 1-minute video was posted on the Defense Ministry’s YouTube channel on Tuesday of the drone’s maiden flight. The video was shot with multiple land-based cameras, aerial cameras from other aircraft, and several cameras mounted on the drone.
The video starts off with the Altius-U drone taking off at an unknown airport, most likely, somewhere in Russia. Once airborne, the drone practices several flight maneuvers that were recorded by a separate aircraft and cameras mounted on the v-shape tail, wing, and belly of the drone. About halfway through the short video, the drone starts its descent and approach to the airport. Cameras on the drone and land captured the successful landing.
“The flight took place for 32 minutes at an altitude of up to 800 meters in fully automatic mode at one of the test aerodromes,” the ministry said.
The Defense Ministry said all systems functioned properly during the test flight, including optical sensors, communication systems, and radar equipment.
Earlier this month, we reported on another test flight, this time it was Russia’s new combat stealth drone, the Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik, or Hunter-B, which has been described as a stealth heavy unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) being developed by Sukhoi as a sixth-generation aircraft.
The Defense Ministry released footage of the Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik drone in action, in a 20-minute low altitude flight at about 2000 feet. Russian news agencies reported it as the next generation drone’s maiden flight.
Russian media commonly promotes their stealth drones, fifth-generation fighters, hypersonic weapons, and other advanced weapons as the world inches towards a possible conflict in the not too distant future.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2MAvcXx Tyler Durden