UMS Skeldar has announced a teaming agreement with Airflite to provide support for V-200 and other rotary UAV systems sold in the region.

Announced at last week’s LAND FORCES 2018 conference in Adelaide, the MoU will see Airflite provide support staff and maintenance and engineering services for Skeldar UAS. Skeldar says the agreement provides another building block for Australia to become the regional base for Pacific Rim support operations as the global UAV company develops its operational footprint with military and civilian customers across the region.

“This is a significant milestone in the development of our global operational support network. Our twin focus of land and sea rotary capabilities, together with state-of-the-art engineering and avionics, demands the very best technical support,” UMS SKELDAR CEO Axel Cavalli-Bjorkman said in a statement.

“We are confident that Airflite, with their impressive customer portfolio, will play an important part in our expansion of services and capabilities in Australia, New Zealand and the wider region.”

Airflite has MRO facilities at six locations in WA, Victoria and NSW. “We are pleased to make this joint announcement,” Managing Director of Airflite Homer Constantinides said. “This agreement not only confirms our position as the number one choice for MRO in Australasia, but signals the commitment to Australia by such a prestigious UAV innovator. We look forward to a fruitful partnership.”

Skeldar has also announced it will integrate the Sentient Vision Systems’ Kestrel into the V-200’s sensor suite.

Kestrel can autonomously detect movement too small or slow for the human eye via electro-optical and infrared video, and has been employed on more than 1,700 systems worldwide.

“Our partnership with Sentient Vision Systems, covers the range of operationally proven systems including Kestrel and ViDAR, allowing us to provide land and sea coverage based on the world’s first optical radar,” UMS SKELDAR Head of Business Development David Willems said.

“Strategic partnerships through global organisations…underpin our pioneering relationship with innovative Australian companies at the leading edge of technology advancements. These international relationships are in addition to our long-term commitment to Australia through joint venture partner Saab’s presence over 30 years as Saab Australia.”

The V-200 and possible developments of the system are likely to be key contenders for the RAN’s SEA 129 Phase 5 and Army’s LAND 129 Phase 3 UAS requirements.