MOSCOW. July 16 (Interfax-AVN) - The Luch Design Bureau (based in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region) is creating an advanced unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
"The reference designation for this system is DANKO-M (the Russian acronym for remote artillery pointer and spotter), or 'Tipchak-M,'" Luch DB's General Director Mikhail Shebakpolsky told Interfax-AVN.
"Tipchak-M" will become "a multi-role reconnaissance system that meets all modern concepts for reconnaissance activity," he said.
The "Tipchak" basic system being created by Luch specialists "is fairly large, which is why today it can be tasked with high ranking missions," he said.
"It is due to be moved from the branch of artillery units to the multi-mission reconnaissance complex," the official said.
The requirements for the new system "are becoming different: flight duration - at least eight hours, quiet and noiseless, operating range within 100-120 kilometers," he said.
"The Tipchak device cannot meet all these requirements, and we are now working on a new UAV, which should be precisely able to perform these new missions," the general director said.
The payload will include a sideways looking radar, a color digital photo camera and a gyro-stabilized electro-optical system. "Research and development work is under way to create a sideways looking radar, which should have high resolution - about half a meter," Shebakpolsky said.
The "Tipchak-M" is expected to have the following specifications: a maximum reconnaissance range of 120 kilometers; a ceiling of 3,000 meters; a payload weight of up to 15 kilograms; speed from 70-100 kilometers per hour; a flight duration of 8 hours; a catapult takeoff mode; a parachute landing mode ; a temperature range between minus 40 and plus 50 degrees Celsius.