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Sonin Hybrid has developed a UAV that can reach speeds of more than 140 mph (writes Nick Flaherty). The Sonin Hybrid Recruit is aimed at first responders such as fire or police services, and has a fully-equipped flight time of over 3 hours. It uses a patent- pending design with a gasoline engine recharging a lithium-ion battery pack in flight, coupled with a carbon fibre body and a lightweight airframe. The payload includes a 30x optical/12x digital zoom 4K video camera with fixed and mobile target tracking, a forward-looking infrared camera with night vision, PA speakers, a spotlight and additional sensors for first- responder missions. “During the process of finalising the design of the power system we realised that we could maximise the range and airspeed by designing our own airframe,” said Curtis Foster, founder of Sonin Hybrid. “There are plenty of commercial UAVs out there, but very few are manufactured specifically for first responders. Long before the onset of the pandemic, we saw that police and firefighters would need this technology the most, hence the Recruit.” Sonin Hybrid is launching several beta programmes with police and fire departments across the US to finalise which capabilities are most important to first responders. Hybrid for first responders Airborne vehicles The Sonin Hybrid Recruit flies at up to 140 mph and is being tested with fire and police services » Robust Heading & Navigation in all conditions » Instant Initialization » Immune to Magnetic Disturbances NEW ELLIPSE-D www.sbg-systems.com 0.05° ATTITUDE POSITION 1 cm HEADING 0.02° The Smallest Dual Antenna & Dual Frequency INS with RTK