The Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia has contracted C-Astral to deliver two Belin-V unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) to the Slovenian Armed Forces. The announcement of the contract was made on the Slovenian public procurement portal on 19 December; however, the deal was signed on 14 November. Under the €1.26 million ($1.34 million) deal, C-Astral will supply six air vehicles before the end of 2022. Two ground control stations, two tablet-based controllers, two AstralTrack 5xu antennas, and four tactical radio stations are scheduled for delivery by the end of May 2023 at the latest.
The Belin-V is a battery-powered unmanned aircraft system and based on C-Astral’s Bramor family. It operates at the tactical level and provides an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capability. The unmanned aircraft system has an endurance of up to three hours and can be controlled out to a distance of 40 km via a line-of-sight communications link. The air vehicle has a blended wing design and features a pusher propeller. The gimballed payload is carried under the nose and typically features electro-optical and infrared cameras.
C-ASTRAL Aerospace is a global market leader with an established reputation in the specialized, fixed-wing small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) manufacturing and services field. Besides systems integration, the company has developed avionics and proprietary, secure and adaptable mesh communication systems. In the last fourteen years, C-ASTRAL Aerospace has fielded two families of small UAS, the BRAMOR and ATLAS (Advanced Technology Light Acquisition System) and its X-WORKS division is currently developing two new small advanced technology systems that will be fielded in 2021 and 2022.