Vietnam, Sweden to cooperate in unmanned aircraft manufacturing

Can’t be sure which of the Unmanned Groups airframes this will actually be, the smallest fixed wing offering looks to be a UAV Factory Penguin re badged as a Discoverer, back in September they flew the bigger Discoverer II for the first time. Perhaps there is something else in the hanger. ed

HANOI, Nov. 21 — Vietnam and Sweden will cooperate in manufacturing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) used in various fields in Vietnam, local online VNExpress reported on Wednesday quoting sources from the Vietnam Aerospace Association (VASA).

According to the report, the Vietnam Aerospace Association ( VASA) and the Swedish Unmanned Group have signed a joint project in Vietnamese capital Hanoi on Tuesday to UAVs through three phases.

In Phase One, Sweden will provide funds and equipment for Vietnam to manufacture two Magic Eye 1 UAVs. It will send experts from Unmanned Group, provide intellectual property and the model design to Vietnam.

During Phase Two, the two sides will cooperate in aeronautical electronic science development, and in the final phase, they will manufacture UAVs at each other’s demand and capacity.

VNExpress quoted VASA President Nguyen Duc Cuong as saying that Vietnam is a promising land for UAV use. They are extremely useful in mapping, traffic planning, border patrolling, researching and rescuing.

UAVs are widely used in the world in various fields such as defense, security, rescue operations, forest management and protection, geological exploration, agro-forestry and fishery services, as well as high-tension wire tests, especially remote sensing.

To date, more than 40 countries design and manufacture UAVs. The market is worth 7 billion U.S. dollars per year and is estimated to double in the next 10 years, reported VASA.