Skyeton’s ACS-3 (Raybird-3) UAS has been actively used in combat conditions in Ukraine since 2016 so as of the beginning of this year had already flown over 300 thousand hours
Ukrainian defense company Skyeton (member of the National Association of Ukrainian Defense Industries, NAUDI) told about one of the combat episodes that demonstrates the high level of survivability of their ACS-3 (Raybird-3) reconnaissance unmanned aircraft system.
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According to NAUDI, russians failed to shoot down this UAS even with the help of an anti-aircraft missile system, despite all their efforts.
"Unmanned systems of Ukrainian manufacturers continue to confirm their effectiveness in real combat conditions," - NAUDI emphasizes.
As the Skyeton company states on its official account on Linkedin, the combat episode in question took place in the Kursk region during one of an active combat mission - other details of the mission are not disclosed for security reasons.
It is noted that during the mission, the russians managed to hit the ACS-3 (Raybird-3) UAV twice with missiles from the 9K33 Osa SAM system. As a result of the hits, an airframe of the UAV took damage, while the camera gimbal was practically destroyed.
However, despite such serious consequences of the hit, the UAV managed to return to base. As the company explains, this was possible due to two important factors - firstly, the aircraft’s resilient airframe, and secondly, a fully autonomous navigation system, thanks to which, despite the camera being actually destroyed, the UAV was able to successfully return.
Recall that the ACS-3 (Raybird-3) is an unmanned aircraft system designed for various long-term missions and ISTAR operations. It corresponds to the class I of NATO classification and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The UAS was created by Ukrainian Skyeton company. Raybird-3 is the name of the aviation system for dual-use; ACS-3 is the name of the military version.
The Raybird UAS has a long combat history - the first prototype was developed back in 2014, in 2016 this UAS was approved for operation in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In 2019, the Raybird (ACS-3) UAV was adopted for military use, in the same year the Ukrainian record was broken when this UAV spent a whole day in the air, and later even more - 28 hours. In 2020, a modernized version of the ACS-3M UAV was introduced.
At the same time, at the beginning of this year, Skyeton said that the ACS-3 Marked 300,000 Hours in Flight.
Read more: Raybird UAS: The Small "Bird" with the Capabilities of a Large Aircraft
