Israeli aviation firm Steadicopter has unveiled an armed, unmanned rotorcraft with precision strike capabilities.
The Golden Eagle unmanned copter features AI-based technology for “superior situational awareness and autonomous multi-target classification and tracking,” the company said in a statement.
The copter is equipped with a remotely-operated robotic weaponry payload called SMASH Dragon that integrates “a unique stabilization concept with proprietary target acquisition, tracking algorithms and sophisticated computer vision capabilities” to lock onto, track, and strike targets with precision.
Smart Shooter
The Smart Shooter AI uses data processing to differentiate between targets such as humans or vehicles, mobile or stationary “and whether they have previously been present in the field.”
The system employs a range of weapons including “assault rifles, sniper rifles, and 40mm.”
The Golden Eagle is based on the company’s Black Eagle 50E electric-powered unmanned platform that can take off and land from small spaces carrying a payload of up to 5 kilograms (11 pounds).
‘Precise Attack Capabilities’
The 35-kg (77-lb) platform can fly at a top speed of 125 kph (77 mph) and cruise at 80 kph (49.7 mph).
VP Sales, Marketing & Business Development at Steadicopter, Noam Lidor, said, “Today’s complex combat environment requires advanced solutions that enable forces to perform missions and neutralize targets remotely, even before entering the area itself.”
“Using artificial intelligence, the new system provides a field combat solution for the modern battlefield. Forces on the ground can now send a helicopter for autonomous intelligence gathering into the relevant area and, having identified and classified the targets, send in another helicopter with precise attack capabilities.”