Paris 2011: IAI’s Small, Electrically Powered UAVs Take Off and Land Vertically
On display in the IAI corral outside the Israeli Pavilion are two of the company’s latest concepts for providing observation capability.
On display in the IAI corral outside the Israeli Pavilion are two of the company’s latest concepts for providing observation capability. Developed by the Malat division, both can take off and land vertically, and use electric power for ultra-quiet operations.
Panther is a 143-pound UAV that combines the advantages of both fixed- and rotary-wing flight. Although shaped like a fixed-wing aircraft, it takes off vertically under the power of three lifting propellers. Under automatic control, it can then transition to forward flight by tilting the wing-mounted propellers, with the rear fuselage propeller shut down when the vehicle has reached sufficient airspeed for wingborne flight.
