More first flights from Turkey, this time a potential armed helicopter. Said to be designed for hot and high operations. We are not sure about the belt drive to the main rotor.
Turkish Aerospace Industries TAI, has developed this mini rotary wing UAV in a short time. The first test flight was succesfully completed and flown 150 meters. The planned flight range of the Sivrisinek is 150km, armed with 2 laser guided Cirit missiles with a range 8km.
With a FLIR designed by ASELSAN, the Sivrisinek is one of the candidates for the ‘intellingence vehicles’ tender of the Turkish Armed Forces.
I think the belt drive would operate saftely. FYI, the Robinson R22 uses a similar belt drive system. Pretty stout little pieces o’ rubber :)
I know, I fly them ;-) Looks a little complex at this size, I assume it has some sort of belt tightening arrangement in there. Will be interesting to watch its progress.