Decade Ago the Philippines have developed a homegrown fully functional, but less costly Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) prototypes. This is a joint project of the Philippine Army and OB Mapua and Partners firm with Architect Oscar Mapua as the main designer. Five UAV models were made, namely Rica, Rufa, Alexandra, Assunta and Claudia.
These UAVs are propeller-driven and made from of-the-shelf materials such as wood, foam, fiberglass and aluminum tubes compared to their more sophisticated foreign counterparts.
One of the prototypes, Assunta has a wing span of 120 inches and 50 inches in length outfitted with 40cc two-stroke gasoline engine. It weighs 30 pounds and can reach to a maximum speed of 148km/hr. It can remain airborne up to 2000 ft for 2 hrs and has maximum range of 20km. Each UAV costs roughly from P250 thousand to 1 million pesos with complete avionics, system and control station.
But unfortunately the development of these UAVs halted due to the alleged corruption in the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Watch the video courtesy of ANC report on the development of Philippine-made UAVs
