The US donated AeroVironment RQ-11 Raven reconnaissance drones to the Ecuadorian Navy for free

The Ecuadorian Navy has acquired a batch of US RQ-11 Raven reconnaissance-class unmanned aerial vehicles. It is noteworthy that the US gave the drones free of charge.

Here's What We Know

At the moment, there is no information on how many drones Ecuador received. But we do know that one RQ-11 Raven costs approximately $35,000. A statement from the Ecuadorian Navy said that the delivery of the drones strengthens cooperation between the two nations.

The RQ-11 Raven is a reconnaissance drone developed by the US company AeroVironment. It can carry out missions within a radius of up to 10 kilometres and has a weight of 2.2kg. The drone has a flight time of approximately 75 minutes.

The payload is the MANTIS i23 module, which enables low-altitude reconnaissance, surveillance and reconnaissance in optical and infrared bands. The operational flight altitude ranges from 30-152 metres.

The drone is 0.9 metres long and has a wingspan of 1.4 metres. The RQ-11 Raven is hand-launched. The drone's low weight allows for a one-handed launch. The RQ-11 Raven has a maximum speed of 81 km/h and a cruising speed of 32 km/h.

Source: @armadaecuatoriana