Denel Dynamics Bateleur

The Bateleur, named after the bateleur eagle, is a prototype medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle designed and built by Denel Dynamics, formerly Kentron, as a private venture on internal company funds from 2003. Its primary role is surveillance, with a secondary signals intelligence capability, and it was to carry electro-optical and infrared sensors, a laser designator, emitter locating equipment or a synthetic aperture radar, with a maximum payload of 200 kg. The modular airframe can be taken apart to fit inside a 6 m shipping container, and the aircraft takes off and lands conventionally on a runway, fully autonomously. It was entered in a 2009 Brazilian Air Force tender and was presumed a front-runner for the South African Air Force Itambo project, but as of 2010 it had not yet flown.