Unmanned aerial vehicle for maritime reconnaissance, type 2 MARCUS-B VTOL UAV, vertical take-off and landing type at the Naval Military Research and Development Office, NIDA, developed with the Thai private sector, namely Thai SDT Composites Company, and Pims Company Technologies Thailand.
Although primarily designed for maritime reconnaissance missions. But project officers say the MARCUS-B UAV is still capable of taking a maximum vertical takeoff and landing capacity of 70kg from 55kg currently tested, so it has an additional payload capacity of around 15kg.
Therefore, there is a feasibility study to increase the ability of Small missile deployment as the European company Thales presented its Freefall Lightweight Multirole Missiles (FFLMM), models that were showcased and explored at Defense & Security 2022.
The FFLMM weighs less than 6kg, measures only 700mm in length, and is guided by INS and GPS satellites during flight and a Semi-Active Laser(SAL) to approach targets. With a warhead weighing only 2kg, it has a firing range of more than 4km when firing from a 10,000feet altitude.
The MARCUS-B can be equipped with a 2-shot FFLMM as well as the RTAF U1-M medium-sized tactical unmanned aerial vehicle Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) that has already been tested.
(AAG)