The LAPAN LSU-02 (LAPAN Surveillance UAV-02) is an
unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...
(UAV) developed by the
Lembaga Penelitian dan Penerbangan Nasional (LAPAN) of
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
. It was developed in 2012 for both civilian and military purposes. The Indonesian military classifies it as a tactical UAV because of its ability to fly over long ranges (300 km, theoretically 450 km) for its size. It broke an Indonesian record for longest ranged UAV built locally.
Operational history
The LSU-02 was used in the 2013
Indonesian Army
The Indonesian Army ( (TNI-AD), ) is the army, land branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It has an estimated strength of 300,400 active personnel. The history of the Indonesian Army has its roots in 1945 when the (TKR) "People's Se ...
joint exercise in the
Java Sea
The Java Sea (, ) is an extensive shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf, between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south, Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east. Karimata Strait to its northwest links it to the South Ch ...
, launched from the helicopter deck of
KRI Diponegoro 365. The mission was to provide target surveillance for an
Exocet MM40
The Exocet () is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from Warship, surface vessels, Submarine, submarines, Helicopter, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
Etymology
The missile's name was given by M. Guil ...
missile. The aircraft can loiter autonomously near its target, with average speed of 70 km/h. In this exercise, the UAV flew for 2 hours and 45 minutes, covering about 200 km. It achieved a national record for UAV with the furthest distance covered by Indonenesian Record Museum (MURI).
In 2016, an LSU-02 was used to photograph 300 km of the coastline south of Java Island, as part of a data collection project to update mapping of the territorial coastline of Indonesia. The LSU-02 photographed Java's southern coastline, starting from Parangtritis, Yogyakarta, to Popoh Beach, Trenggalek, East Java. Photographing continued on Pacitan beach, East Java on its 100 km coastline.
Development
In 2018, LAPAN unveiled a new version of LSU-02, dubbed LSU-02 NGLD (New Generation, Long Distance) during National Technological Expo to commemorate Hari Kebangkitan Teknologi Nasional at Pekanbaru. It then broke its previous MURI record by achieving 405km range of flight at 17 July 2019.
In 2021, LAPAN tested a hybrid VTOL version of LSU-02 drone in its facility at Pameungpeuk, Garut, West Java. This VTOL version has extra rotors positioned at the front end and rear end of a spar positioned on each wing. Its MTOW increased by 5kg (23kg), while its fuel capacity is 3,8kg, theoretically able to sustain 2,5-3 hours flight. LSU-02 VTOL was designed mainly for mapping, surveillance, and monitoring.
Specifications (LSU-02)
See also
*
Lapan LSU-03
References
{{reflist
External links
Official website archiveon
archive.org
The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...
Unmanned aerial vehicles of Indonesia
Single-engined pusher aircraft