A company with its headquarters in Pretoria has designed and built an advanced drone that can attain speeds of 250km/h, reach altitudes of up to 30 000ft and travel more than 4 000km before having to return to its base. The company, Milkor, is a South African defence equipment and cybersecurity specialist that was founded all the way back in 1981.

Its newly developed Milkor 380 System unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) – in essence, a giant drone – has a cruising altitude of 10 000ft, a wingspan of 18m and a maximum payload of 220kg.

The drone has a flight time of up to 35 hours and can be used for border surveillance, maritime surveillance, strategic reconnaissance and information gathering operations, among other things.

To talk about the UAV, Milkor communications director Daniel du Plessis sat down with Duncan McLeod on the TechCentral Show recently and shared more details about its capabilities.

Other than the Milkor 380, the interview also covers topics including:

* Milkor’s founding in the 1980s, and how the company shifted focus in the democratic era – it got its start, and may still be best known for, manufacturing the world’s first six-shot 40mm grenade launcher, which is widely used around the world;

* The company’s other products – for land, air and sea operations – as well as what’s involved in conducting advanced R&D and manufacturing in a market like South Africa;

* The people who work for Milkor, and the sort of skills the company is looking for (and how it’s finding them);

* The role of UAVs in modern warfare and defence operations; and

* Why Milkor has entered the cybersecurity space.

Don’t miss a fascinating interview! TechCentral