Dubai Airshow 2021: Halcon unveils Hunter family of ISR UAVs

EDGE Halcon's series of UAVs with payloads at the Dubai Airshow 2021. (Janes/Akshara Parakala)

United Arab Emirates' (UAE's) EDGE group subsidiary Halcon unveiled Hunter, a family of tube- and hand-launched electric unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), at the Dubai Airshow 2021.

The family of UAVs includes the fixed-wing tube-launched Hunter 2, Hunter 5 and Hunter 10, with the numbers denoting the payload each can carry (in kg), and a rotary-wing version. All the AVs are custom designed, operate using GPS and optical navigation and can be employed in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and attack missions.

The Hunter 10 small UAV features a single straight wing pivoted to the top of the trapezoidal streamlined fuselage, V-tail, and a four-bladed propeller at the rear of the fuselage. When in the tube the wing aligns longitudinally with the fuselage and rotates to transverse direction when expelled. The AV has a laser seeker at the bottom of the rear part of the fuselage.

The Hunter 10 has a wingspan of 4.2 m, length of 3.4 m, and a maximum take-off weight of 47 kg. The electric motor allows the AV to achieve a service ceiling of 2,500 m, cruising speed of 60 kt, endurance of 40 minutes and a communication range of 62 km.

The Hunter 5 mini-UAV features a podded fuselage, straight wings strapped at an angle at the top of the fuselage. Here the AV has a foldable tail mounted on a boom that takes conventional tail form when released from the tube. The nose of the AV has two twin-bladed co-axial propellers and the EO/IR sensor is attached to the fuselage pod.