Two locally-made drones unveiled at defence expo

 

The ‘Kawbra’, a remote-controlled unmanned ground vehicle, on display at the Defence Services Asia expo in Kuala Lumpur. (Facebook pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: Two locally-developed unmanned vehicles have been unveiled at the opening day of a defence and security expo here.

One was a tactical drone (unmanned aerial vehicle) designed by a unit of the DRB-Hicom group for gathering intelligence, and conducting surveillance and reconnaissance.

It can be operated day and night for a duration of 10 hours and has a range of 100km, Bernama reported.

Deftech group chief executive officer Fazley Ariffin said the drone was completely a local effort and was fully customised to specific operational requirements of the user.

The other drone was an unmanned ground vehicle known as the “Kawbra” which has a resemblance to a cobra. It was developed by a research unit of the defence ministry and designed as a tactical vehicle for infiltration into risk zones.

The electrically-powered vehicle could be operated by remote-control and used to get into areas dangerous to humans, such as areas polluted by toxic waste.

“We can get the vehicle to enter these areas to gather data and know the actual situation in the area via real-time video without endangering any lives,” said Aizul Fazli Suhaimi, engineering head of Stride, a science and technology research institute of the defence ministry.

Aizul said Kawbra is equipped with an infrared collision sensor to detect objects blocking its path, and a geo-magnetic sensor and a GPS sensor. It has four cameras on the front, sides and back.

“The vehicle can carry a payload of up to 200kg and has a range of 40km per full charge,” he said. - FMT