The Lihiniya MK 1 ( si, ලිහිණියා මාක් 1) is an

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

under development by the

Sri Lanka Air Force The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) ( si, ශ්‍රි ලංකා ගුවන් හමුදාව, Śrī Laṃkā guwan hamudāva; ta, இலங்கை விமானப்படை, Ilaṅkai vimāṉappaṭai) is the air arm and the yo ...

(SLAF) and the Centre for Research and Development (CRD) as an experimental platform to test technologies for its indigenous UAV program. During the civil war the SLAF used UAVs for reconnaissance operations. They used drones from US and Israel such as the

IAI Searcher The IAI Searcher (also known by the Hebrew name מרומית ''Meyromit'' - "Marsh tern", or officially in Israel as the חוגלה ''Hugla'' - "Alectoris") is a reconnaissance UAV developed in Israel in the 1980s. In the following decade, it re ...

, E.M.I.T Blue Horizon 2 and the

RQ-2 Pioneer The AAI RQ-2 Pioneer is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that had been used by the United States Navy, Marine Corps, and Army, and deployed at sea and on land from 1986 until 2007. Initially tested aboard USS ''Iowa'', the RQ-2 Pioneer was placed ...

. In 2010 the Sri Lanka Air Force started to build the prototypes of a new locally made UAV under the supervision of the Air Chief Marshal.

Design

The aircraft is a HTOL UAV with a

high wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

, twin-boom tail and a single

pusher engine A bank engine (United Kingdom/Australia) (colloquially a banker), banking engine, helper engine or pusher engine (North America) is a railway locomotive that temporarily assists a train that requires additional power or traction to climb a grad ...

. The Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) developed by the CRD consists of the UAV aircraft, two ground control stations (GCS) and a mobile Advanced Ground Control Station (AGCS). The data from this UAS program is being used for the development of the

Lihiniya MK II Lihiniya MK II ( si, ලිහිණියා මාක් 2) is a medium range unmanned aerial vehicle developed by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and the Centre for Research and Development (CRD) as a tactical UAV system for the national defenc ...

which will have a range of 100km.

Deployments

Lihiniya MK1 deployed to No. 111 Squadron SLAF in SLAF Base Vauniya. In 2022 Remote triggering mechanism for aerial firing introduced to Lihiniya UAVs.

Specifications

References

Post–Cold War military equipment of Sri Lanka Single-engined pusher aircraft {{UAV-stub

Design

Deployments

Specifications

See also

References