Thales Debuts Modular Long-Range Light UAS

European tech firm Thales today introduced its latest long-ranged programme, the UAS 100. The system was developed in partnership with Issoire Aviation and Hionos, and with the support of the French Ministry of the Armed Forces via the Defence Innovation Agency (AID).

The UAS100 will help meet demand for more cost-effective drone missions with a lower environmental impact, said Thales in statement.

The system is developed, taking in mind that hundreds of thousands of drones with significant commercial potential are due to enter service over the next 10 years. As a result, airspace management and the aerospace ecosystem will become considerably more complex, creating new safety and security challenges and obliging civil aviation authorities to tighten their regulatory demands.

To meet these challenges, Thales is proposing a long-range, long-endurance unmanned air systems (UAS) that is capable of meeting future flight safety, security and certification requirements

From infrastructure inspection, coastal surveillance, border surveillance and event security to search-and-rescue and military operations, UAS100 will meet mission requirements while operating in full compliance with general aviation regulations. Its flight avionics combine the certified levels of flight safety and security of Thales’s solutions for the aerospace sector with the low weight and compact design needed for integration on board a light UAV.

The UAS 100 system will offer range capabilities in excess of 100km and its jam-resistant navigation system will ensure safe operation even in dense or cluttered electromagnetic environments. It is powered by two electric motors as well as an internal combustion engine, guaranteeing the discretion needed to accomplish its missions and operate over populated areas, while ensuring the necessary endurance and resilience to failure.

According to Vice-President Strategy, Product Policy and Innovation Marc Duval-Destin for Flight Avionics business, and Drone programme director, Flight Avionics, Emmanuel Guyonnet, if there are some failures onboard the UAS, it is still capable of flying and land safely in any situation.

“With this new long-range UAS, Thales is providing the trusted solution needed for civil, government, and military inspection and security applications. As well as meeting today’s operational requirements, the new system paves the way for the air mobility solutions of tomorrow.” Thales’ Executive Vice-President, Avionics, Yannick Assouad.

With a level of system redundancy and security unmatched on the light UAS market today, the Thales solution will natively meet the requirements of the new European SC-LUAS (Special Condition – Light Unmanned Aircraft Systems) regulations. The system will reduce operating costs and improve the environmental footprint of drones, opening up new opportunities for inspection and surveillance operations and expanding the capabilities of government services and the armed forces.

The innovation has been developed in record time thanks to a close partnership between Thales, Issoire Aviation and Hionos. Issoire Aviation, pioneer of the all-carbon aircraft, has provided unique know-how in aerostructure design and manufacturing, while Hionos has made an important contribution to the project with its autopilot software solutions for drones.

Thales has successfully completed the first flight of a half-scale prototype of its UAS 100 long-range unmanned air system demonstrator on June 22, 2021. The full certification would be achieved in 2023. According to the specifications, the full-sized fixed-wing UAS would be the size of a small propeller plane with a wingspan of 5.4m. -thelf/adj/aaa (Photo: Thales)