UAVs

The little-known Russian A-Level Aerosystems company has demonstrated swarming capabilities using micro unmanned air vehicles with repeated flight displays at this year's ParcAberporth UAV airshow at West Wales airport.

Two ZALA 421-08 flying wing UAVs and a single portable ground station were used in the demonstrations, with the air vehicles keeping formation using A-Level Systems' own GPS-based autopilot and navigation system.

A-Level Systems managing director Nikita Zakharov says the micro UAV type has been flying for two years with deliveries of operational systems under way to Russian's Ministry of Interior Affairs.

The ParcAberporth flights, the first by Russian UAVs in UK airspace, also included demonstration of voice-based reporting by the air vehicle, including location reports, airspeed and communications link status. Zakharov says voice-based mission planning and re-planning capability is currently in development for the system.