AHRLAC unveiled

Member for

19 years 9 months

Posts: 1,620

By: wilhelm - 30th September 2011 at 21:42 - Edited 2nd October 2019 at 11:40

Two South African companies are attempting to elbow their way into the global defense market with an unusual new aircraft developed on home soil.
Paramount Group and Aerosud Holdings Ltd. on Tuesday will unveil the Ahrlac, a compact plane that they say merges the capabilities of a drone, an attack helicopter and surveillance aircraft.

Paramount Group and Aerosud Holdings will unveil their Ahrlac attack-and-surveillance plane, above, in South Africa on Tuesday.
"There's nothing like it in the marketplace," says Paul Potgieter, managing director of closely held Aerosud.

The Ahrlac—short for Advanced High Performance Reconnaissance Light Aircraft—aims to fill a niche left by less-versatile and more-expensive rivals. Most countries on the continent rely on modified cargo planes or turboprop fighters for surveillance work, but the Ahrlac is a multipurpose alternative that's marketed for perform military and civilian reconnaissance.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204010604576594510143821174.html

Attachments

Original post

Member for

18 years 4 months

Posts: 784

Send private message

By: slipperysam - 1st October 2011 at 00:27 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

Cessna 337 and Ov-1 Broncos secret love child????

Member for

16 years 5 months

Posts: 920

Send private message

By: Griffon39 - 2nd October 2011 at 02:17 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

A last desperate charge by the diminishing SA aerospace industry? Nice try and good luck. But I dont buy it.

Member for

19 years 9 months

Posts: 1,620

Send private message

By: wilhelm - 2nd October 2011 at 22:06 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

like the article says, it is attempting to fill a niche currently occupied by more expensive and less versatile aircraft. Particularly transport planes and turboprop trainers that are often used in roles that they are not ideally suited for.

Botswana, Namibia, and Mocambique are a few countries that spring readily to mind, South Africa notwithstanding. Botswana has been slowly building a more credible force, particularly in relation to it's shared border with Zimbabwe.

The article does point out that:

Paramount and Aerosud say the Ahrlac's is designed for police, border patrols and forestry agencies—not just defense ministries. They also see potential sales in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Paramount and Aerosud say they have received interest from potential customers but decline to say from whom.
Governments in Africa contend with huge distances, unsecured borders and bad roads. Most lack funding for advanced Western jet and helicopter technology. So Paramount aimed to create an aircraft "that would do 80% of what a helicopter did but at a fraction of the cost," Mr. Ichikowitz says

It will have an endurance of over 7 hours on a single tank of fuel. It can also function as an inshore maritime patrol aircraft, and is designed to be modular and rapidly reconfiguarable, with a variety of sensor and armament packages. It is designed to operate from forward, primitive bases, and be self deployable to these bases, with a minimum or no logistics train.

Attachments

Member for

16 years 2 months

Posts: 297

Send private message

By: schurem - 3rd October 2011 at 12:03 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

I think its a really smart design, like a manned predator drone. It can carry two crew, can't it? I hope it does well.

Perhaps institutions like law enforcement, border patrol, forest watch etcetera could use these things as well. It must be far cheaper per flight hour than a helicopter!