The United States delivered the first 24 RQ-11B drones to Ukraine Raven of the AeroVironment. This is what the US embassy in Kiev communicates. The complete supply concerns 72 systems Raven and related equipment that will be used by the Ukrainian army.
Dozens of Ukrainian soldiers - continue from the US embassy - have already completed Raven training at the Huntsville, Alabama base.
Unmanned systems are part of the package known as European Reassurance Initiative of the White House. Despite requests for several last-generation defensive and offensive weapon systems, the Obama administration has preferred to send SRI assets to Ukraine.
The RQ-11B Raven is a UAV designed and developed by AeroVironment for ISTAR operations, Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance. It is powered by a single Aveox 27 / 26 / 7-AV electric motor, produced by the American Aveox.
The images are transmitted to a GCU, Ground Control Unit, through a connection of digital DDL data. The ground control unit can be assembled and disassembled in just two minutes. Flying at an altitude of 100 feet, the Raven B can transmit color and infrared images in real time to the ground control.
The Pentagon has purchased a total of around 3.500 systems Raven. Only heavy 1,9 kg, the UAV incorporates an electro-optic color camera in the front section to capture images of the battlefield. The EO sensor converts light rays into electronic signals for image capture. The suite also includes an infrared night vision camera.
More than 13.000 Raven have been delivered to the world. The Raven B implements several improvements over the version A as the automatic landing function in case of signal loss with the ground control station and interoperable systems. The Raven B it is able to take off and land even in adverse weather conditions, thanks to advanced avionics and GPS.
The B can fly at a maximum altitude of 152 meters at a cruising speed of 32 km / h. The maximum speed is 81 km / h. It has a range of 12 km and can fly for 90 minutes.
(photo: US Army)
