South Africa: The largest African made drone – The Milkor 380 has been unveiled now. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) built by South African company ‘Milkor’ has undergone its through its first test flight.
Earlier, in 2023 Director Plessis stated that the people can anticipate the first public demonstrations of the Milkor 380 at the African Aerospace and Defence Exhibition in September 2024, which has happened now.
Reportedly, the Milkor 380 is part of a family of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) that is designed and manufactured by Milkor Aerospace, which is a defence solutions provider based in South Africa.
The drone boasted a formidable wingspan of 18.6 metres and has an impressive maximum takeoff weight of 1300 kgs.
According to the Marketing and Communications Director of Milkor – Daniel du Plessis said that the first flight of the UAV signifies a remarkable achievement for both Milkor and the South African Defence Industry (SADI) that added flight trials and sensor integration which will remain forefront of developments throughout the year in 2023.
Moreover, with an impressive endurance capability of up to 35 hours. The Milkor 380 is categorised as a medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAV.
The drone has five hardpoints can accommodate a diverse range of weaponry and equipment, which includes synthetic aperture radar, jammers, electro-optical gimbals, and more.
Notably, all avionics, communications and payload integration capabilities of the drone have been developed in-house. Basically, it has solidified Milkor’s standing in the UAV industry.
Military Africa unveiled in the year 2018 that the Milkor 380 embarked on taxi testing, earlier too. Considerably, the UAV was engineered for extended intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance missions.
Milkor (Pty) Ltd is a privately owned South African company, which was established back in 1980. The company is best known for the range of Milkor MGLs 40mm (multiple grenade launcher), that is used in more than 50 countries.
Since 2017 Milkor has expanded its capabilities to include Land, Air and Sea along with Cyber. Milkor has an array of 37/38mm and 40mm products, that also caters to the less-lethal market, for infantry and for special forces applications.