The "Warmate" Combat Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (CUAV) supplied by WB Electronics of Poland is detailed as a "loitering munitions" solution - an optionally expendable and highly lethal airborne system capable of "Search, Track, and Attack" (STA) over-battlefield functionality with a secondary inherent ability to reconnoiter. At its core, the air vehicle is of lightweight design and compact dimensions, representing a now critical component to modern operations involving Polish Army Force which has ordered the design in a batch of 1,000 units. Foreign operators of the series currently (2020) include Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and (possibly, unconfirmed) Turkey.
The air vehicle features a modular warhead which can be fitted with general FRAGmentation (FRAG), HEAT (High-Explosive, Anti-Tank), and thermobaric solutions to help it defeat both "soft" and hard / armored targets out in the open or under cover. This flexibility gives Warmate extreme tactical flexibility over the modern battlefield, capable of engaging many Target-of-Opportunity (ToO).
Its general arrangement is conventional, showcasing a tubular, missile-like fuselage with straight, shoulder-mounted mainplanes, V-style tailplanes, and a twin-bladed propeller unit seated at the extreme rear of the design in pusher arrangement. The aircraft is launched by a portable pneumatic-powered stand through a fully-automatic process and can further be controlled by the ground operator. The heavy duty touch screen Ground Control Station (GCS) features a digitally encrypted data link with integral automatic antenna tracker (this being tripod mounted), allowing for real-time / full-color transmission of video to the receiving unit. Attack is through near-pinpoint accuracy utilizing the video feed manually or by automatic function. Various autonomous flight mode options are built into the design that include loitering, fly-to-waypoint / cruise-to-waypoint, and attack.
The complete Warmate system can be hauled into the field and arranged for flight by just two operators. Assembly involves attaching the mainplanes and tailplanes to the fuselage and mounting the completed aircraft to its pneumatic launcher. While the product is detailed as expendable, there is an automatic recovery system for recon-minded sorties involving Warmate.
The air vehicle has an operating range out to 15 kilometers (direct Line-of-Sight - LoS) and a mission endurance of up to 70 minutes with an operating ceiling of 500 meters. Dimensions include a wingspan of 1.6 meters and length of 1.1 meters. Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) reaches 5.3 kilograms while the maximum payload weight totals 1,400 grams. The vehicle flies at speeds up to 150 kmh.
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April 2016 - At least two undisclosed customers have ordered the expendable Warmate attack UAV.
April 2022 - Russian forces claimed a pair of Warmate loitering munitions operated by Ukraine in the ongoing Ukrainian-Russian conflict.
Poland; Turkey (probable); Ukraine; United Arab Emirates
(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)
✓Ground Attack (Bombing, Strafing)
Ability to conduct aerial bombing of ground targets by way of (but not limited to) guns, bombs, missiles, rockets, and the like.
✓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
3.6 ft (1.10 m)
Width/Span
4.6 ft (1.40 m)
Empty Wgt
9 lb (4 kg)
MTOW
9 lb (4 kg)
Wgt Diff
+0 lb (+0 kg)
(Showcased structural values pertain to the base WB Electronics Warmate production variant)
monoplane / shoulder-mounted / straight
Monoplane
Design utilizes a single primary wing mainplane; this represent the most popular mainplane arrangement.
Shoulder-Mounted
Mainplanes are mounted at the upper section of the fuselage, generally at the imaginary line intersecting the pilot's shoulders.
Straight
The planform involves use of basic, straight mainplane members.
(Structural descriptors pertain to the base WB Electronics Warmate production variant)
Installed:
1 x Electric drive engine powering two-bladed propeller unit at rear of fuselage in pusher arrangement.
(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the base WB Electronics Warmate production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)
Internal HE (high-Explosive) warhead / detonation device.
Supported Types
(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)
Hardpoint Mountings: 0
Warmate - Base Series Name.
Ribbon graphics not necessarily indicative of actual historical campaign ribbons. Ribbons are clickable to their respective aerial campaigns / operations / aviation periods.
Images Gallery
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Image from official WB Electronics marketing video.
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Poland; Turkey (probable); Ukraine; United Arab Emirates
