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KAI flags scaled down Night Intruder variant
Korea Aerospace Industries has quietly begun to market test a revised scaled down configuration of its Night Intruder 300 unmanned air system.
A model of the new variant – which retains the name Night Intruder - was shown by KAI at last months’ Paris Airshow but with company officials declining to comment on the configuration changes.
A data sheet displayed by the company at the airshow advised that “KAI developed Night Intruder, a next generation tactical unmanned air system, based on Night Intruder 300. Latest technologies such as miniaturisation and modularisation were applied for the development of the Night Intruder”.
The new version retains the high wing monoplane and pusher propeller configuration. However the all composite monocoque fuselage does away with the previous box configuration – as seen in the forward profile - of Night Intruder 300 and replaces it with an isosceles trapezoidal profile – again based on front on view. The profile is highly reminiscent of the AAI RQ-7 Shadow 200B fuselage.
The revised wing has a slight swept form and ends with large winglets incorporating navigation lights.
KAI data indicates the new Night Intruder is planned to have a span of 4.1m and an all up length of 3.1m, compared to a 6.4m span and 4.7m length for the production configuration Night Intruder 300.
The tail structures of the two variants are near identical, based on a twin boom joined by the rear elevator. The new version has a height of 0.9m., compared to 1.47m for Night Intruder 300.
The scaled down aircraft would have a maximum takeoff weight of around 100kg, compared to 290kg for the Night Intruder 300.
KAI says the new aircraft would have a ceiling of 4000m and a mission radius of 60km, or half the existing data link range of the existing variant. Endurance is placed at 6hr, the same as the existing production standard configuration
The new configuration retains the distinctive propeller guard ‘hoop’ as carried by Night Intruder 300 to prevent its parafoil landing system from becoming fouled during recovery operations. However the new configuration is also offered with a net recovery system, suggesting that the revised compact design may have originated as a candidate for the South Korean Navy’s 2007-2008 competition for a ship launched and recovered tier II tactical UAS system.
Korea’s defence procurement agency awarded production contracts to KAI for Night Intruder 300 in 2001 with deliveries occurring between 2003 and the end of 2004. The company says that version has now logged more than 2000 sorties in operational service with the Republic of Korea Army.
KAI has previously market tested a larger version of the Night Intruder 300 designated Night Intruder 400 how this has not been seen publically for at least two years.
By Peter La Franchi, Asia-Pacific Editor
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