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Taking advantage of experience in Ukraine, Tekever has upgraded its products to make them more resilient. Having also demonstrated capabilities in the civilian sector, the company is now targeting opportunities with national navies.
Taking advantage of experience in Ukraine, Tekever has upgraded its products to make them more resilient. Having also demonstrated capabilities in the civilian sector, the company is now targeting opportunities with national navies.
AR3 Evo / AR5
© Tekev
The war in Ukraine has prompted Portuguese company Tekever to undertake a major redesign of its AR3 UAV, covering both hardware and software. Now deployed on the front line and renamed AR3 Evo, the aircraft features a new internal-combustion engine that offers greater endurance and improved performance in winter temperatures. The modular design offers two configurations: a catapult-launched version, with the engine now positioned at the front, and a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) version, which can operate from an area measuring 5m × 5m. The latter has two additional arms, each fitted with a battery; these are the only electrical components on board.
Its endurance has been extended to up to 14 hours of continuous flight. Equipped with advanced communications systems, the AR3 Evo transmits imagery and aircraft data in real time, including video. Its profile has been streamlined to reduce its signature, and the company has devoted considerable effort to improving its resistance to jamming. The AR3 Evo now “offers a feature that sets it apart from UAVs in the same category [25kg, Ed.]: it has a dual-payload capability. It can carry an electro-optical turret alongside equipment for intelligence-gathering missions, with a maximum payload capacity of 6kg,” explains Nadia Maaref, General Manager of Tekever France.
The company is active in both the defence and civilian markets. It initially focused on land surveillance, monitoring forest fires in North America and Canada, and pipelines in West Africa. It subsequently expanded into maritime surveillance, taking advantage of the extended endurance of its UAVs. The AR3 and AR5 are deployed on behalf of the UK Home Office to provide continuous surveillance of the English Channel. A contract with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), in place since 2016 and renewed twice, has also given the company exposure in Portugal, France — where the French Navy has trialled both AR3 and AR5 — Italy, Spain, the Baltic states and Iceland.
The larger AR5 can operate at ranges up to 700km from its ground station, enabling it to cover an area equivalent to a country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). It has a payload capacity of 50kg and a cruise speed of 100km/h. “It is a fixed-wing aircraft powered by twin internal-combustion engines, and is also equipped with a satellite communications link — a fairly unique feature in its category. It weighs 180kg and therefore takes off from a runway. In the ISR UAV market, it has few, if any, direct competitors of comparable size and capability,” Nadia Maaref observes. “With their navalised design and extended endurance, our UAVs are valued by coastguards. It therefore makes sense for us to develop the maritime sector further, working with national navies and other organisations responsible for state action at sea,” she adds.
- Aude Leroy
