Israel Aerospace Industries has abandoned its programme of converting manned helicopters into unmanned aircraft. IAI had been helping Hindustan Aeronautics in India to convert an existing helicopter for unmanned operations. However in the absence of a defined budget by the Indian Government, it withdrew from the project.
The company believes that “An unmanned rotorcraft should be designed as such from scratch” and has recently revealed some details about its efforts in the small unmanned rotorcraft sector. One example is the “Ghost” reconnaissance design, which has a maximum take-off weight of 4kg (8.8lb), a top speed of 35kt (65km/h) and an endurance of 25min.
Source: Flight Global