IDEF 2021: Turkish company Uavera showcases Çagatay VTOL UAV.

At IDEF 2021, defense exhibition that take place in Istanbul from 17 to 20 August 2021, the Turkish company Uavera is showcasing Çağatay, the first and only unmanned aerial vehicle with satellite control capability in the under-cloud unmanned aerial vehicle class.

Çağatay  (or CGT50) is the first and only unmanned aerial vehicle in the world in the class of under-the-cloud unmanned aerial vehicles, capable of performing fully autonomous missions by taking off/landing vertically in all kinds of terrain conditions. (Picture source:  Army Recognition)

Çağatay VTOL has a wingspan of 4.65m. Its design and manufacture is national. The body is manufactured from composite material by molded manufacturing. A 100cc engine is used in the product, which has a useful load carrying capacity of 5 kg. Average fuel consumption is 1 liter/hour. In this way, it can work for 6 hours.

Çağatay VTOL uses an electric motor for vertical take-off and landing. Thus, it does not require a runway or catapult/launcher: . Thanks to this feature, Çağatay VTOL is ideal for missions where the YKİ must be mobile and where landing and take-off areas are limited or dangerous.

Military usages include:

- Day/Night Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance

- Target detection and tracking

- Fire control / forward surveillance and damage assessment

- Shoreline / border control and protection

- Security of outposts, plant, base zones, sites, etc.

- Airborne security of convoys

There are two versions of ÇAĞATAY UAV, which can stay on runway and stay vertical. The runway version offers 8 kg of additional load carrying capacity instead of vertical take-off capability. Thanks to this 8 kg, the working time can be increased up to 14 hours or the payload capacity can be increased up to 12 kg.

Both versions of ÇAĞATAY UAVs have an alternator that produces 14V DC and 350 watts of energy. This energy is sufficient for almost all payloads of portable size. The system also includes a backup battery that allows 90 minutes of safe flight in the event of an alternator failure.

ÇAĞATAY UAVs use Avionics Mini with 100% domestic software and hardware. Thanks to the self-redundant Avionic Mini, ÇAĞATAY UAVs perform all missions fully autonomously. UAVs can take off and land autonomously from the runway with an error of only 3-5 m, even at 15 knots crosswind. Avionics Mini is fully compatible with the IVME MCS and can be configured or developed in line with customer demands.

Çağatay VTOL takes off from a tripod and can land on an area of ​​5×5 m. (Picture source: Uavera)