Bangladesh thus extends its capacity in remotely controlled aircraft limited up to now to only one Bramor of the Slovenian C-Astral.
In December 2017, according to the modernization program, the Air Force requested a MALE ( Medium Altitude Long Endurance ) drone with a minimum of 15 flight hours and a range of 1,000 km.
In March 2019, the US Department of Defense offered $ 13 million “help” to Bangladesh for the acquisition of drones for use in UN peacekeeping missions.
It is no coincidence that the Falco Evo was selected by the United Nations for surveillance operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo starting from December 2013. The five Falco EVO employed are part of a contract signed at the end of July 2013 between the UN and Selex ES (now Leonardo) for a total of about 50 million dollars.
The Falco is the only fully developed tactical UAS in Europe that has been exported and used in real operations. In addition to the United Nations, the Italian drone was purchased from Pakistan (first customer), Jordan, Saudi Arabia (about 50 Falco according to some sources) and Turkmenistan (3 Falco). In Pakistan, following agreements between Selex ES and Pakistan Aeronautical Complex , a local production line was started up.
The Falco EVO is 6.2 meters long, has a wingspan of 12.5 meters and a maximum take-off weight of 650 kg . It can fly for more than 20 hours at an altitude of 6,000 meters. It has a load capacity of over 100 kg . It can be controlled up to about 200 km, which can be extended with satellite systems or autonomous flight.
Among the transportable load stand out EO / IR / LRF systems, laser designators, SAR radars, COMINT, ESM, EW, etc including the Gabbiano Ultra Light radar, PicoSAR and EOST 46 electro-optical / infrared turret.
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