by DRONELIFE Staff Author Ian J. McNabb
French tethered UAV developer Elistair recently announced a strategic partnership with Rheinmetall Canada to develop a brand new ISR solution for military customers, combining the autonomous KHRONOS tethered drone with the Mission Master family of unmanned ground vehicles. The brand new partnership follows a successful test of the electrical Mission Master SP, designed for resupply missions, overwatch, and payload carriage together with the KHRONOS in front of unnamed European military officials at Rheinmetall Canada’s test track in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec.
“We’re very excited to be collaborating with a serious defense contractor like Rheinmetall Canada,” said Guilhem de Marliave, CEO of Elistair. “By combining their Mission Master family of UGVs with our push-button, long-endurance, automated KHRONOS drone, Rheinmetall Canada can provide customers with a sophisticated solution for unmanned reconnaissance and convoy escort.”
The KHRONOS, which was released in November, is designed for difficult environments (including GPS/GNSS-denied and RF-denied zones) and could be deployed in lower than two minutes from the included transportable dronebox. It might probably provide continuous footage of an area as much as 2 km for a formidable 24 hours, making it an ideal “pocket watchtower” solution that could be used with relatively limited training.
“The Mission Master family of UGVs can carry a wide range of ISR payloads,” said Alain Tremblay, VP of Business Development and Innovation at Rheinmetall Canada. “But KHRONOS definitely has its benefits, and we see international interest given its progressive capability to adapt to current and future complex theatres of operation.”
First deliveries of the KHRONOS dronebox are set for March. More information on Elistair is obtainable here. More information on Rheinmetall Canada is obtainable here.
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