Dubai Airshow 2021: SAMI’s AEC showcases indigenously designed BARIQ UAV

Advanced Electronics Company (AEC), a Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) company, exhibited its first iteration of indigenously developed vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) swarm-capable BARIQ unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at the Dubai Airshow 2021.

The BARIQ is a multirotor hybrid-powered small UAV developed to carry out intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), and cargo missions. The air vehicle (AV) is specifically designed to meet the long-range and high-endurance requirements of domestic customers.

The AV has a diameter of 2 m featuring six detachable arms, housing electric motors with lithium polymer batteries on each, powering the fixed-pitch two-bladed propellers. The central mast is attached with arms, two landing skids, an electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) turret, and a two-stroke single-cylinder internal combustion (IC) engine. The engine is coupled with an electric power generator to support the forward flight and electronic warfare (EW) payload requirements. The electric motors support autonomous VTOL and mission segments, which need quick manoeuvring and high-power consumption to compensate for the lag in the IC engine.