Yaphon United 40 Block 5 - Dual Engine Combat Drone Made in the United Arab Emirates

Drone Yaphon United 40 Block 5

Militarymedia.net - There are many parameters that indicate the advantages of the Medium / High Altitude Long Endurance drone technology, one of which is the user of two engines (twin engines). In terms of adopting dual-engine drones, so far the public has more control over the figure of Akinci made by Baykar Makina from Turkey. Even China has released the Tengden TB001, a combat drone with three propeller engines.

Apart from that, it turned out that there were those who were present on the market first, but they were less well known. The meaning is Yaphon United 40 Block 5 made by Adcom System. Interestingly, the drone designed by a company from the United Arab Emirates has flown since 2012, much earlier than the Akinci drone, which is the pride of Turkey.

Referring to the naming, Yaphon United is labeled 40 as a marker of the United Arab Emirates' 40th birthday. Quoting from deagel.com, Yaphon United 40 Block 5 comes from the single-engine development of Yaphon United 40. This drone with a maximum takeoff weight of 2,000 kg is designed for real-time combat assessment, battle damage assessment, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. Not only that, Yaphon United 40 Block 5 is a combat drone.

This drone has a mainstay weapon in the form of the Nimrod air-to-surface missile. Nimrod is a missile developed by Israel Aerospace Industries, this 100 kg missile has a high subsonic speed with an effective firing range ranging from 300 - 36,000 meters.

Yaphon United 40 Block 5 can carry two ADFLIR pods and four underwing pods with a payload of 100 kg each. Features that can be added optionally are synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and terrain avoidance sensor.

Yaphon United 40 Block 5 is powered by two propeller engines. Although there is no mention of the type and brand, it is said that each engine has a power of 115 hp, or when combined, it can total up to 230 hp.

Yaphon United 40 Block 5

From the specifications, Yaphon United 40 Block 5 has a length of 11.13 meters and a wingspan of 17.53 meters. This drone has an empty weight of 950 kg and can fly with an endurance of up to 100 hours. Has a fuel tank capacity of 1,400 liters, Yaphon United 40 Block 5 can accelerate at a cruising speed of 220 km per hour.

Carrying a multi-functional role, including carrying weapons, this drone has a payload of up to 1,050 kg. For flight height, Yaphon United 40 Block 5 can fly up to a maximum of 8,000 meters.

It seems that Yaphon United 40 Block 5 is not only stuck at making prototypes, because this drone has actually been marketed to several countries. Like Algeria which produces locally under the name Algeria 54, of the 10 ordered, two units are currently in operation. Egypt and Russia were also recorded as buyers of United 40 Block 5.In December 2013, the Russian Air Force purchased two units of United 40 Block 5 to undergo an evaluation trial in early 2014.

The Yaphon United 40 Block 5 prototype was first shown to the public at the 2013 International Defense Exhibition (IDEX) in Abu Dhabi.