Ukrainian research and manufacturing company Altair Technologies has developed TOR, an aircraft-type unmanned system powered by an internal-combustion engine. It belongs to the same modular family as the electric TOR A, but is intended for longer and more distant missions.
The platform can conduct reconnaissance, transport equipment, relay communications, release munitions and support strike missions. The manufacturer also proposes using the aircraft as an aerial target for testing air-defense and counter-UAV systems.
How TOR differs from the electric TOR A
Both versions share the same main dimensions: 2,230 millimeters in length and a wingspan of 2,960 millimeters. The airframe is made from composite materials using matrix production. The key difference is propulsion. TOR A uses an electric motor and lithium-ion battery, while TOR is equipped with an internal-combustion engine.
The fuel engine increases endurance and range but makes the aircraft heavier. Empty weight rises to thirteen kilograms compared with seven kilograms for TOR A. Payload reaches eight kilograms and maximum takeoff mass is up to twenty-eight kilograms.
Range, speed and endurance
Maximum stated endurance is 240 minutes, or four hours, and flight range reaches four hundred kilometers. The operating speed range is 110 to 150 kilometers per hour, with an airspeed cruise range of 120 to 135 kilometers per hour. Maximum altitude is two thousand meters.
Actual figures depend on payload, fuel reserve, weather, altitude and mission profile. The combination of four-hour endurance and an eight-kilogram payload allows the aircraft to carry more than a camera: it can transport communications equipment, specialized sensors or smaller drones over substantial distances.
Day and thermal reconnaissance
TOR can carry a daylight camera or a combined daylight and thermal-imaging module. Day optics support observation, correction and documentation in good visibility. Thermal imaging extends operations into darkness, twilight, smoke and other limited-visibility conditions.
The exact sensor and data-link configuration is selected for the customer. An FPV relay can also be installed, making the larger aircraft a communications node above the mission area.
Carrier and relay for FPV drones
Compact FPV drones can be mounted on external hardpoints. TOR carries them closer to the operating area, after which they separate and continue independently. This preserves the battery of the smaller drone for its final mission phase instead of spending it on the entire approach route.
The airborne relay can maintain control and video connectivity. Public demonstrations of the TOR family have shown configurations with multiple FPV drones, including systems intended to intercept aerial targets. Payload capacity allows the number and type of carried systems to change, although additional mass and drag reduce aircraft range and endurance.
Launch, landing and field servicing
TOR launches from a ground launcher, so it does not require a long prepared runway. It lands conventionally with a short ground roll and therefore needs a suitable relatively level recovery area.
Deployment from transport configuration takes fifteen to twenty minutes. Preparing the aircraft for another launch requires another fifteen to twenty minutes, while packing the system takes about five minutes. The operating crew consists of two or three people, depending on mission configuration and division of flight, payload and communications duties.
What the basic system includes
The basic TOR complex contains three aircraft with internal-combustion engines, a ground-control station with antenna, controller and laptop, a launcher, transport box and spare-parts and tools kit. Three aircraft allow sequential sorties, maintenance without stopping the entire complex and a reserve in case of damage or technical failure.
A platform rather than one fixed role
TOR should not be considered only a reconnaissance UAV or an FPV carrier. Its central feature is the ability to change payload and purpose without designing another aircraft. One configuration performs long observation, another serves as a relay, and a third carries drones, equipment or munitions.
Four hours of endurance, a range of up to four hundred kilometers and up to eight kilograms of payload make TOR the longer-range member of the presented Altair Technologies family. Its practical value lies in combining reconnaissance, communications, transport and deployment of detachable unmanned systems within one reusable platform.
