38 Dossier | Tekever AR3 a completely radio-silent operation. The system collects data over a valuable target, returns, lands and only then are the data analysed,” Mendes notes. Such silent missions are not the norm, he emphasises. “What you want is to have everything in real time, that’s the most common type of mission. But in extreme scenarios – like deep penetration missions – you may have no choice but to complete the mission without any active communications.” Where communication is possible, the system employs a communication management architecture capable of dynamically using whatever links are available at any given time. “It’s normal for one of our systems to carry six or seven different links,” Mendes explains. These can include lowfrequency telemetry and control (TTC) links, higher-frequency links supporting both TTC and payload data, multiple SATCOM options from low-bandwidth Iridium to high-bandwidth KA/KU-band services, 5G cellular networks where available and multiple line-of-sight radios. Additionally, sophisticated relay architectures extend operational range and resilience. Nunes says that relay setups, where larger UAVs such as the AR5 equipped with high-bandwidth KA/ KU links (approaching 10 Mbps), serve as aerial hubs to relay data from smaller UAVs like the AR3. “You can build a chain of relays across multiple aircraft to maintain connectivity deep into contested zones,” he explains. “Because we’re vertically integrated – we control the aircraft, ground station and tracker antenna design – we have optimised performance. We can routinely achieve 230 km between the ground station and an AR-3 platform.” Ultimately, the system’s strength lies in its adaptability: modular hardware, intelligent communication management, real-time dynamic bearer selection and the ability to switch to fully autonomous operation when the environment demands it. Tekever has a large AI department, and the technology contributes to all of the system’s capabilities that rely on data fusion, including the evolving GCS technology and the Atlas web-based system through which the company provides customers with intelligence as a service. While the GCS is fairly conventional today, the engineering team is working toward a system that is as unintrusive as possible, ideally an AI-enabled ‘co-pilot’ for the operator that, at all times, enables them to understand where the vehicle is, what it’s doing, what stage of its mission is at and what information it’s providing to them. Mendes envisions interacting with the GCS conversationally, and the system giving advice and suggesting different ways of solving the problems facing the operator in real time. “That’s how you build a co-pilot; a co-pilot isn’t just a ‘yes-or-no’ kind of thing.” Forged in combat, the AR3 Mk9 Evolution represents the distillation of many hard lessons, and it might just represent a step change in UAV capability to operate in the most hostile of environments. August/September 2025 | Uncrewed Systems Technology Dimensions: 4.2 m wingspan x 1.96 m length Cruise speed: 46 knots Endurance: up to 22 h MTOW: 25 kg (regulated) Payload: 6 kg (VTOL with MTOW increased to approx. 28 kg) Comms range: 230 km Launch: catapult/VTOL Recovery: parachute/VTOL Some key suppliers: Engines: 3W, Desert Aircraft, Hirth, ZDZ EO/IR gimbals: Hood Technology, NextVision, Octopus, Tekever, Trillium Wide-area surveillance: IMSAR, Overwatch Imaging, Tekever ELINT/SIGINT: CRFS, ESROE, Lifeseeker, Quadsat, Revector EW: Leonardo AIS and EPIRB: WTE Wireless Technologies Airspace deconfliction equipment: uAvionix Radio communications: Doodle Labs, Microhard, Persistent Systems, Radionor, Silvus, TrellisWare Satcom: Honeywell VersaWave, Iridium, Starlink Key specifications Multiple sensors and data fusion algorithms feed into the AR3 Evolution’s precision landing system that works independently of GNSS, which is all too vulnerable to electronic attack
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