New Vietnamese HS-6L HALE UAV likely aided by Belarus

[Major Shaitan Singh]

Vietnam's new HS-6L UAV, which has 22 m wingspan and an endurance of 35 hours, will greatly improve Vietnam's surveillance capabilities. Source: Via Top81 web page

Vietnamese television and other media reports have revealed Vietnam's largest indigenous high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to date, indicating that it will eventually perform civil and military missions over the South China Sea.

Reports from 10 and 11 December 2015 state that the new HS-6L HALE UAV is a product of Vietnam's Academy of Science and Industry and Ministry of Public Security. The twin-boom-configured HS-6L has a 22 m wingspan, a range of 4,000 km, an endurance of 35 hours, and is powered by a Rotax 914 engine.

The prototype was completed on 1 November 2015 and reports note that it will conduct flight testing over the South China Sea during the second quarter of 2016.

While its payload size has not been revealed, the HS-6L will reportedly carry optical and radar surveillance systems. In size, endurance and configuration, it is roughly in the same class as the Israeli Aerospace Industries Heron UAV.

A view along the wingspan of Vietnam's new HS-6L HALE UAV. (Via Top81 web page)

However, it is likely that design assistance for the HS-6L came from Belarus. Vietnamese media reports noted the UAV unveiling coincided with a visit of the chairman of the Presidium of the Belarus Academy of Science: Professor Vladimir G Gusakov.

In November 2014 IHS Jane's reported that Vietnam was purchasing the 5.7-m wingspan Belarus 558 Aviation Repair Plant Grif-K UAV. This features a lightweight composite body and a twin-boom configuration similar to that of the larger HS-6L.

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[Nike]

Uppsss, actually they just bought it

 

[Beast]

Belarus are quite good in computer and programming.

 

[Viet]

Uppsss, actually they just bought it

Comment of a loser

 

[Nike]

Comment of a loser

yeah-yeah the mighty and super duper ultra Vietrash can do everything themselves

 

[initial_d]

Good job vietnam

 

[proud_indian]

cool design

 

[Viet]

yeah-yeah the mighty and super duper ultra Vietrash can do everything themselves

You have the habit of spewing lies. Or you can prove we bought the vehicle, can't you?

 

[arif hamza]

looks quite similar to falcon UAV

 

[Nike]

You have the habit of spewing lies. Or you can prove we bought the vehicle, can't you?

oh even the article mention it... you must be blind

 

[dichoi]

Made in Vietnam.

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

congratulations to Belarus for the successful export.

 

[Viet]

oh even the article mention it... you must be blind

the article says we bought Belarus Grif UAV 5.7-m wingspan, not the 22-m wingspan. who is blind?

the smaller version has much lower range.

specs of Grif-1:
— wing -4.8 m;
— length — 3.5 meters;
— weight — 120 pounds;
— desired load up to 35 pounds;
— speed up to 170 km / h;
— greatest flight time of about 8 hours;
— a range of about 100 km.

Unmanned from Belarus [ID14D2] | IHS Jane's 360

 

[oprih]

Nice to see that Belarus is also joining the lucrative market of uav, they immediately have a customer which is vietnam.

 

[Pandora]

I dont know why people make a fool of themselves by calling everything indigenous. A system suddenly pops out of no where and suddenly yu move to HALE bypassing MALE and other basic system. So stopping fooling yourself.