The prototype of South Africa’s latest Unmanned Aircraft the Denel Dynamics Seeker 400, has been completed and is due to make its maiden flight in the first quarter of next year.
The Seeker 400 is a medium altitude, long endurance (Male) UAV. A mock-up of the aircraft has been publicly displayed at, for example, African Aerospace and Defence 2010 in Cape Town. “The Seeker 400 has been funded by the Denel group itself, alone,” Denel Dynamics CEO Jan Wessels told Engineering News Online on Friday. “This reflects the group’s very strong belief in the market for UAVs.”
There is already a launch customer for the Seeker 400. The company cannot reveal the name of the country concerned, but it already operates the Seeker II tactical UAV. The other two countries which currently operate the Seeker II are also interested in the Seeker 400 because the new aircraft can simply be controlled using their existing Seeker II control stations.
Despite its name, the Seeker 400 is a totally new aircraft, with no relation to the Seeker II except that it uses the same format for its airframe. The Seeker 400 is much larger and much more capable than the Seeker II.
Denel Dynamics describes the Seeker 400 as a “typical entry level Male UAV”. It has a 16-hour endurance and can simultaneously operate two payloads. Currently, it has a range of 250 km, because it uses only line-of-sight communications, but it could be upgraded to use satellite communications, which would allow it to operate at much greater ranges.
The Seeker 400 flight test programme will run for most of 2012, and production should start by the end of that year. Denel Dynamics plan, in due course, to add weapons to the Seeker 400, and a number of countries have already expressed interest in this version.
The Seeker 400 was originally conceived as an upgrade of the Seeker II (hence the name) but as the project developed the company realised that a totally new and larger aircraft would do better in the market. The retention of the name Seeker also takes advantage of the Seeker II’s established brand.
“The Seeker 400 programme is nicely on track,” said Wessels. Denel Dynamics’ original Male UAV project, the Bateleur, has not been abandoned, but is currently on ice.
Source: Engineering News