Discover the Milkor 380: Africa's largest UAV unveiled
Image: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
It is not often that one sees what goes into creating and operating an Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAV), but on a tour of the Milkor manufacturing plant in Cape Town, this was exactly the access granted to see how the Milkor 380 is manufactured.
Milkor is a private South African defence solutions provider with over 43 years of experience. It is known for defence solutions for air, land, and sea applications.
Milkor manufactures armoured vehicles such as the BushCat, Frontier, and Vanguard APCS, which are designed to operate in challenging terrain while ensuring crew safety and comfort. They also manufacture 40mm Multiple Round Grenade Launchers, which they supply to more than 67 countries worldwide.
Their facilities in Cape Town focus on aerospace and defence technologies.
The Milkor 380 is the largest UAV to be developed, tested, and manufactured in Africa. It is a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle designed for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), and precision strike missions.
It boasts an operational range exceeding 4 000 kilometres and an endurance of up to 30 hours. It has a length of 9m with a wingspan of 18.8m. It can reach a maximum speed of 250km/h, and carry a max payload of 220kg, with a maximum take-off weight of 1 500kg.
The Milkor 380, Milkor's latest solution for Unmanned Aerial Systems, is the largest UAV ever to be developed, tested, and manufactured in Africa.
Image: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
Head of Business Development: Africa, Daniel du Plessis, explained that they are moving away from a development phase and transitioning into scaling their industrialisation efforts.
Currently, they produce 12 a year, which are subject to the number of orders they have secured. The 12 that Milkor UAVS produces annually include the aircraft and their sub-components.
Du Plessis explained that their ability to configure the aircraft to their client's needs may affect the timeline for delivering a Milkor 380 aircraft. He added that they also provide training on how to operate the systems before delivering a UAV.
He highlighted how, because they can produce and manufacture the hardware and software in-house, they can update the technology for their clients and keep the systems updated.
'Typically, six months before the delivery of the first system, we would invite the engineers and the respective client to come for a full training, which includes the training on operations, flight control, payload operations, maintenance, communications, and the whole thing.
'This ensures that when you receive the first system, you have full operational control. We also support them for up to one year, as a standard offering, to fly with them, should they need our assistance.'
Head of Business Development: Africa, Daniel du Plessis, explained that they are moving away from a development phase, and transitioning into scaling their industrialisation efforts.
Image: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
The Milkor 380 is a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle designed for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), and precision strike missions.
Image: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
Chief Stress Engineer, Vinkie Mlimo, explained that her role focuses on the different types of loads, and stress that is placed on the aircraft.
'In flight, with the aerodynamic flow, all of those factors impose certain loading onto the airframe itself, so stress analysis will then use that input from the aerodynamics team to say, 'when you are in flight the airframe is gonna see 10G-force' (10 times the acceleration due to gravity) and so then you have to make sure that the wing doesn't break off.
'In landing as well, we're mostly looking at the landing gears, as that is what sees most of the impact, as that is what is transferred onto the aircraft as well. That is what we look at for stress.
'With the landing gears, we can design them to be stiff… or you can choose to dampen that loading impact,' Mlimo said.
'And the choosing of the materials as well.'
Mlimo went into greater detail explaining how they may choose different materials, depending on the stress that certain materials can handle, and that it all depends on what their configurations require.
'Different materials have different strengths and weaknesses, and it depends on the type of loading… Stress is similar to stress in a human being, it is just putting pressure on the airframe.'
Du Plessis added that they have also been working toward the launch of their new UAV, Milkor 780, next year, which has a length of 12m with a wingspan of 24m, but that further insights into this new UAV will be showcased at next year's Africa Aerospace and Defence expo.
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