Transas working on MALE-class UAS designs

St Petersburg-based Transas Group continues with the program to develop a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial system (UAS) for the Russian military. In parallel, the company intends to create a civilian unmanned vehicle in the same class. The company has prior successful experience as the developer and manufacturer of the Dozor and Filin UAS families, which are currently in service with commercial companies and government agencies.

Transas won the Defense Ministry’s MALE UAS tender in 2011. The losing contenders were Russian defense and aerospace companies Vega Radio Concern and Tupolev.
Little information is available about the program due to its classified nature. The only technical parameter known to date is the future vehicle’s MTOW of around 1 ton, suggesting that the Russian military would like to get a UAS similar in size to the General Atomics RQ-1 Predator or the IAI Heron.

Like its foreign equivalents, the Transas MALE UAS is likely to have weaponry capability. This was earlier confirmed by the company managers, who said that the new system would be capable of flying all types of missions, including combat strikes.