Defense & Security 2022: Barzan showcases A5000 UAV

Barzan displayed its A5000 UAV at the Defense and Security 2022 show in Bangkok. (Janes/Amit Kalra)

Barzan Aeronautical, a Qatari-owned United States-based company, has showcased a tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) called A5000 at the Defense and Security 2022 show in Bangkok.

Speaking to Janes, Abdullah Hassan Al-Khater, vice-president and chief strategic procurement officer of Barzan Holding said, “The design of the A5000 is frozen and it is in the final stages of development with flight-testing under way.” He also said the company is expecting the A5000 UAV to be ready for production by early 2023.

The A5000 UAV was unveiled at the DIMDEX defence show held in Qatar in March 2022. Development of the A5000 began in 2019.

The A5000 features a fuselage pod supporting mid-mounted sweptback wings with wingtips, twin-tail booms terminating in an inverted V-tail, a pusher engine configuration, retractable tricycle undercarriage, and chin-mounted electro-optical payload.

The upper fuselage section has internal bays to accommodate avionics. The UAV can also be equipped with payloads as per user requirements. Such payloads include synthetic aperture radar, ground moving target identification, and Mode S Transponder with ADS-B, and shipborne automatic identification system (AIS). The UAV can also be equipped with high-bandwidth satellite communications for beyond line-of-sight (BLOS) operations.

The A5000 measures 4 m in length, and 1.3 m in height. It has a wingspan of 6.9 m, and can carry a payload of 52 kg. It also has a maximum take-off weight of 326 kg. The UAV is listed to have an automatic taxiing, take-off and landing capability. Barzan Aeronautical said that the A5000 has an endurance of 15 hours.