MOSCOW, 28 Sep - RIA Novosti. The new military reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) "Merlin-VR", capable of operating at an altitude of up to five kilometers, was developed in Russia, follows from the presentation of the project available to RIA Novosti.
The drone is capable of conducting aerial monitoring in automatic and semi-automatic modes for ten hours. The maximum payload mass of the Merlin is up to 6.5 kilograms.
The device is capable of carrying on board various variants of optical-location stations operating in both the visible and infrared ranges. Due to the use of a hybrid engine and high altitudes, the drone has low acoustic visibility.
As a source in the military-industrial complex clarified to RIA Novosti, "the device was demonstrated to representatives of the military department, the possibility of testing it is being considered."
The developer of the drone is the Smolensk Research Institute of Modern Telecommunication Technologies. Earlier, the company presented a project of the Filibuster unmanned complex with Merlin-21BM unmanned aircraft, which were to be equipped with optical sensors or a radar station. These vehicles had significantly smaller dimensions, shorter flight time and altitude, and a more modest payload than the Merlin-BP.