Unveiling the KHRONOS-Mission Master Combo: A New Era of Unmanned Reconnaissance and Convoy Escort
by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian J. McNabb
French tethered UAV developer Elistair recently announced a strategic partnership with Rheinmetall Canada to develop a new ISR solution for military customers, combining the autonomous KHRONOS tethered drone with the Mission Master family of unmanned ground vehicles. The new partnership follows a successful test of the electric Mission Master SP, designed for resupply missions, overwatch, and payload carriage along with the KHRONOS in front of unnamed European military officials at Rheinmetall Canada’s test track in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec.
“We are very excited to be collaborating with a major defense contractor like Rheinmetall Canada,” said Guilhem de Marliave, CEO of Elistair. “By combining their Mission Master family of UGVs with our push-button, long-endurance, automated KHRONOS drone, Rheinmetall Canada can provide customers with an advanced solution for unmanned reconnaissance and convoy escort.”
The KHRONOS, which was released in November, is designed for challenging environments (including GPS/GNSS-denied and RF-denied zones) and can be deployed in less than two minutes from the included transportable dronebox. It can provide continuous footage of an area up to 2 km for an impressive 24 hours, making it a perfect “pocket watchtower” solution that can be used with relatively limited training.
“The Mission Master family of UGVs can carry a variety of ISR payloads,” said Alain Tremblay, VP of Business Development and Innovation at Rheinmetall Canada. “But KHRONOS definitely has its advantages, and we see international interest given its innovative capacity to adapt to current and future complex theatres of operation.”
First deliveries of the KHRONOS dronebox are set for March. More information on Elistair is available here. More information on Rheinmetall Canada is available here.
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Ian McNabb is a staff writer based in Boston, MA. His interests include geopolitics, emerging technologies, environmental sustainability, and Boston College sports.
