JAMMING RESISTANT
The Skydio drones have a maximum takeoff weight of 2.49kg. They can ascend at a maximum speed of about 20kmh, and descend at about 14kmh.
These drones are capable of avoiding obstacles and navigate autonomously in GPS-denied environments. This refers to locations where signals from Global Positioning System satellites cannot be reached.
The obstacle-avoidance capability allows operators to focus more on what they need to see on the battlefield, rather than flying the drone itself, said Lieutenant-Colonel Tay Cheung Chuan, commanding officer of a newly established drone unit in the RSAF.
Known as Drone Rapid Operationalisation, Integration and Deployment (DROID), it comes under the air force’s UAS Warfare and Tactics Centre.
It researches, experiments and trials small unmanned aerial vehicles for SAF operations. Both the unit and the UAS centre were only formally inaugurated in late July.
The Archer drones meanwhile are first-person view systems, resistant to communications jamming – where wireless communications are deliberately blocked or interfered with. They too can operate in GPS-denied environments, and can be flown at a speed of more than 145kmh according to news reports.
