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| AeroVironment RQ-20 Puma |
Militarymedia.net - The use of drones as a surveillance vehicle by warships seems to have been plural, however, what the British Navy (Royal Navy) does is always interesting to observe, knowing the British Navy with its prowess and experience, being a reference for many of the world's marines. As recently as recently, the crew of the offshore patrol vessel HMS Tamar conducted an exercise in flying RQ-20 Puma drones.
RQ-20 Puma belongs to the class of mini drones, weighing not up to 6 kg, to launch the Puma is simply released by hand (hand launched). Produced by the U.S. company AeroVironment, Puma is a bestseller operated by the military. Puma users in various variants are recorded such as Belgium, Canada, Egypt, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, United Kingdom and the United States. In British hands, Puma has so far only been operated by naval aviation units.
The UK itself is relatively new as a Puma user, namely in August 2020, where the Puma fleet is stationed on the 700X Naval Air Squadron, where the squadron's task is to prepare for the deployment of Puma drones on several warships.
Puma first flew in 2007 and was officially introduced one year later. With a bandrol per unit of US$250 thousand, Puma has come in several variants, such as the Solar Puma variant with ulta thin solar cells, which makes the drone have an endurance of 9 hours. Then there's the Puma LE (Long Endurance) with an increased battery capacity that makes it fly for 5.5 hours.
However, the standard Puma variant has an endurance of 2 hours. Powered by a mini propeller propulsion, the Puma can fly up to a radius of 15 km. Speaking speed, maximum reaches 83 km per hour and minimum speed is 37 km per hour. Puma is 1.4 meters long and has a wingspan of 2.8 meters. Puma's advantage is that it is able to operate in extreme weather, where it can be used from temperatures of -29 to 49 degrees Celsius.
No fewer than 1,000 Puma drones have been sold, and these drones are also used by the United States Navy on surveillance missions in the Persian Gulf.
