Malaysian UAV excels at some unusual missions
Beginning life as a research project at the Universiti Putra Malaysia’s (UPM) Department of Aerospace Engineering, the UPMX unmanned air vehicle has demons

Beginning life as a research project at the Universiti Putra Malaysia’s (UPM) Department of Aerospace Engineering, the UPMX unmanned air vehicle has demonstrated its acumen in a number of innovative roles, and the team is eager to try more.

Rather than develop a pure research vehicle, UPM set out to produce a UAV that not only could be used for research, but also perform practical functions. To satisfy the latter requirement, it had to be able to fly in national airspace. Several serious acts of piracy in the Straits of Malacca and terrorist actions on two islands near Borneo in 2000 spurred the development in Malaysia of a practical UAV. The new UAV would have applications in both anti-piracy/terrorism surveillance, and also for civilian uses such as support of agriculture.

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