Philippines to procure tactical UAVs with mine detection capabilities
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| An example of a multi-rotor UAV with mine detection capability. Photo c/o Mine Kafor. |
The Philippine Army will be procuring new tactical UAVs equipped with magnetometers to allow for detection of mines, IEDs and metallic objects to assist in mine detection and clearing operations.
The procurement would be made as part of a package to acquire new Combat Engineer Vehicles as part of the service’s efforts to improve its combat engineering capabilities.
According to Philippine Defense Resource, the UAVs will be based on a multi-rotor tactical UAV model that is powerful enough to carry magnetometer equipment in support of combat engineers.
The UAVs would be compact enough to fit inside the tracked combat engineer vehicle that would carry the combat engineers in the battlefield, and shall be operable by UAV pilots from inside the armored vehicle.
The requirement for mine detection UAVs was added to the requirements as the public tender for the Combat Engineer Vehicles have been restarted and revised after previous bid failures.
Aside from the UAVs, the new specifications replaced the requirement for a mine plough with a mine rollers, which according to Filipino defense page MaxDefens Philippines, will allow the vehicles to have a lighter combat weight to meet the specifications, and also reduce the overall cost of the vehicles to fit within the allowed project budget.
It is believed that the Philippine Army could be eyeing the ASCOD 2-based Pizarro VCZ Castor designed and built for the Spanish Army’s sapper units by GDELS’ Spanish subsidiary Santa Barbara Sistermas, to match Sabrah light tanks of the Philippine Army that also uses the Spanish-built ASCOD 2 platform.
[2] Philippine Defense Resource
Reviewed by Asia Pacific Defense Journal
on
September 04, 2023
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