Portuguese drone manufacturer Tekever will provide some of its long-endurance systems to Kyiv to support land and maritime operations, a move bankrolled by the United Kingdom’s International Fund for Ukraine.
Earlier this month, the British Defence Ministry shared a video on social media showcasing military equipment being provided by the IFU account to Ukrainian troops. Launched last summer, the first IFU deliveries — funded by Denmark, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and the U.K. — will begin to arrive in July.
The International Fund for Ukraine is supplying critical capabilities for Ukraine, with deliveries from the first procurement round due next month.
Yesterday we announced a £92m air defence package, to be provided through the second procurement round: https://t.co/wipYETa8Ur pic.twitter.com/XOvX1yJ1qa
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 14, 2023
Open-source intelligence analysts were quick to identify what appears to be Malloy T150 quadcopters manufactured by the British company Malloy Aeronautics, the DeltaQuad Pro VTOL drone produced by Dutch firm DeltaQuad, and the Astero ISR system from Denmark’s Nordic Wing. Two other unspecified drone models can be seen in the footage, with one shown taking off vertically and launched via catapult.
The British Defence Ministry declined to comment on specific platforms in the video.
Defense News can, however, confirm that one of the two unidentified drones is the Tekever AR3 Vertical Takeoff and Landing system, manufactured by the Lisbon-based firm Tekever.
“Yes, our Tekever AR3 system is depicted in the video produced by the UK MoD,” a company representative told Defense News. “It includes images of the drone being deployed with support of a catapult — which we can use for extended endurance operations up to 16 hours — and in an optional VTOL configuration. Each operator can easily choose which variant it wants to use for a specific mission.”
Tekever’s CEO and founder, Ricardo Mendes, added that the company is
“very proud to support Ukraine and thankful to the UK MoD and IFU for allowing us to contribute to one of the most important causes of our lifetime.”
“Our teams are working 24/7 to continuously adapt our products to the ever-changing field conditions in Ukraine, overcoming technological difficulties and challenges at a daily pace,”
he further states.
The AR3 is a small, long-endurance drone designed to provide wide-area surveillance for both land and maritime missions. It has a maximum payload capacity of 4 kilograms (9 pounds), can fly at a cruise speed of 75-90 kph (47-56 mph) and can also be recovered via parachute.
Photo: PT-8 Oceanwatch payload integrated on the Tekever AR5
Sources: Defense News; Portugal Pulse