Tethered drone solutions provider Elistair has announced the development of its new Orion 2 tethered UAS for military, government, and industry users.

Described as a “true persistent surveillance platform,” the Orion 2 hexacopter delivers round-the-clock surveillance for up to 24 hours at a time.

“Small, unmanned multi-rotor systems are great if you want a hover-and-stare capability, but they’re also notoriously short on battery life,” says Timothée Penet, CTO and co-founder of Elistair.

“Powered tethering stations, like our Safe 2 and Ligh-T 4, offer a solution by increasing a platform’s time in the air—and that’s great for many missions. But what if you need to be on station for a whole day?” Well, that’s what the Orion 2 is built for.

Lightweight yet extremely durable, the Orion 2 is designed as a quick-deploy system (automated push-button takeoff and landing) that can stay in the air for 24 hours. Previously, this type of endurance was only possible using a helium-filled tactical aerostat, which was a much larger platform and came with a very complicated logistical train.

“We developed redundancies at every level to ensure that the Orion 2 could stay up that long,” explains Pierre-Moana Levesque, R&D Director at Elistair.

“For example, we made it IP54; we optimized the lifespan of the components, including the motors; and we added a safety battery that could recharge in the air.”

The new Orion 2 is considered an improvement over the original Orion drone, which was impressive in its own right. The original Orion helped secure the Ryder Cup in Sept. 2018, flying over crowds of 300,000 attendees for eight to 11 hours a day. The UAS has also been used by the French police, British military, and Singaporean government.

Equipped with a micro-tether of 330 feet, the Orion 2 flies higher than its predecessor and surveils more ground. Capable of carrying up to 4.5 pounds of payload, the UAS can also serve simultaneously as an ISR and telecom platform.

The Orion 2 can also stream georeferenced electro-optical and infrared imagery at the same time. Thanks to a new fiber optics cable option, the UAS can deploy 4G/5G communications nodes as well.

“The Orion 2 tethered drone is a clear advance over the very capable Orion in terms of persistence, logistical footprint, and data control. We are thrilled by this product launch,” says Guilhem de Marliave, CEO and co-founder of Elistair.