Portugal has followed the global push to locally design, develop, and produce Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) of various shapes, sizes, and over-battlefield roles. The AR5 "Life Ray Evolution" from Tekever is one product to emerge from the nation and fulfills the "Medium-Altitude, Medium-Endurance" (MAME) role during a period when such vehicles remain in high demand. The AR5 is marketed with reduced operating costs, low risk, and excellent endurance when compared to typical industry leaders such as the General Atomics "Predator" line.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected the AR5 to be its primary European Maritime Patroller for the testing of such air vehicles in the maritime surveillance role (under "Project RAPSODY".
The Ar5 maintains a traditional aircraft arrangement despite its UAS categorization. There is a slender, streamlined fuselage containing the powerplant, fuel stores, avionics, sensors, and cameras. The wing mainplanes are situated along the sides of the fuselage in the usual way and are capped by upturned tips for additional control and fuel-efficiency. The tail unit is comprised of a twin-vertical rudder arrangement with individual horizontal planes attaching these members to the fuselage. An air intake is set over the aft-section of the aircraft to aspirate the engine within. The engine drives a three-bladed propeller unit in "pusher" fashion. The undercarriage is wheeled at all three members for ground-running and is fixed to the underside of the aircraft.
Dimensions of the aircraft include a length of 3 meters and a wingspan of 4.3 meters. Its cruising speed reaches 140 kmh and endurance is out to 12 hours.
Communications with ground operators is handled by a Beyond Line-Of-Sight (BLoS) satellite-based system (Line-of-Sight communications are also supported). Onboard the aircraft are real-time processing systems covering still imagery, moving video, and general sensor data collection. Internally, the aircraft can carry various payloads for a more modular, tactically-minded approach. The air system can a Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) of up to 500 kilograms. The AR5 is flexible enough to be launched from unprepared airfields for both take-off and landing actions. Both are furthermore handled through an automatic process reducing the workload of the operator.
Beyond its obvious military value, the AR5 is also useful in humanitarian assistance, Search-and-Rescue (SAR), and industry-minded roles such as environmental disasters (oil spills and the like). Border patrolling and maritime security are other strong suits where industry abuse can run rampant.
(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)
✓Special-Mission: Search & Rescue (SAR)
Ability to locate and extract personnel from areas of potential harm or peril (i.e. downed airmen in the sea).
✓Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance (ISR), Scout
Surveil ground targets / target areas to assess environmental threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.
✓Unmanned Capability
Aircraft inherently designed (or later developed) with an unmanned capability to cover a variety of over-battlefield roles.
Length
9.8 ft (3.00 m)
Width/Span
14.1 ft (4.30 m)
Empty Wgt
220 lb (100 kg)
MTOW
331 lb (150 kg)
Wgt Diff
+110 lb (+50 kg)
(Showcased structural values pertain to the base Tekever AR5 Life Ray Evolution production variant)
Installed:
1 x Conventional engine driving three-bladed propeller assembly in "pusher" configuration.
Values are derrived from a variety of categories related to the design, overall function, and historical influence of this aircraft in aviation history.
Overall Rating
The overall rating takes into account over 60 individual factors related to this aircraft entry.
22
Rating is out of a possible 100 points.
Relative Maximum Speed
Hi: 100mph
Lo: 50mph
This entry's maximum listed speed (93mph).
Graph average of 75 miles-per-hour.
City-to-City Ranges
NYC
LON
LON
PAR
PAR
BER
BER
MOS
MOS
TOK
TOK
SYD
SYD
LAX
LAX
NYC
Tekever AR5 Life Ray Evolution operational range when compared to distances between major cities (in KM).
Aviation Era Span
Showcasing era cross-over of this aircraft design.
Unit Production (20)
20
36183
44000
Compared against Ilyushin IL-2 (military) and Cessna 172 (civilian).
Ribbon graphics not necessarily indicative of actual historical campaign ribbons. Ribbons are clickable to their respective aerial campaigns / operations / aviation periods.
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Portugal
