TSAMTO, August 23. The Quimbaya X-003 UAV, designed and manufactured by the Colombian CIAC (Corporacion de la Industria Aeronautica de Colombia), has successfully passed the final stage of flight tests and is now ready for sale to customers both in Colombia and abroad.
As reported by Infodefensa.com as part of the program implemented by GSED (Grupo Social y Empresarial de la Defensa) together with CIAC and the Colombian Air Force, Quimbaya flight tests were conducted at Marandua Air Base in various weather conditions in order to test all the tactical and technical characteristics of the UAV.
After the successful completion of this final stage, the Ministry of Defense is ready to start selling UAVs. It is planned that the first customers will be the Air Force and the National Police of Colombia. In addition, there is interest from the law enforcement agencies of Guatemala.
The development of UAVs has been carried out by the Ministry of National Defense of Colombia since 2016 through GSED and with the technical support of CIAC and Ecopetrol. The UAV is designed for collecting information, monitoring and exploration at any time of the day, as well as for use in monitoring energy infrastructure facilities, oil pipelines, mineral deposits. The Spanish company Aertec participated in the design.
An aircraft-type UAV with a high-positioned wing is made according to a two-girder scheme, equipped with a tricycle landing gear. According to available information, the Quimbaya UAV with a take-off weight of 70 kg can stay in the air for up to 10 hours. The wingspan of the UAV is 5.24 m, the length is 4.11 m. The UAV is equipped with EO/IR cameras, a closed communication channel. The load capacity of the device is up to 12 kg, the cruising speed is 100 km / h.