Uzbekistan selects Airbus Flexrotor VTOL drone for long-range surveillance missions.
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Uzbekistan has signed a new Flexrotor uncrewed aircraft deal at the Dubai Airshow, marking the platform’s first entry into Central Asia. The long endurance system will strengthen the country’s surveillance network along difficult border regions and add new crewed and uncrewed teaming options.
According to Airbus, on 19 November 2025, Uzbekistan’s state enterprise Uztechtrade signed a contract at the Dubai Airshow for an undisclosed number of Flexrotor uncrewed aerial systems, marking the first sale of this platform in Central Asia. The Flexrotor will be used primarily for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance missions and integrated in advanced crewed–uncrewed teaming with the country’s helicopter fleet to boost situational awareness and mission effectiveness.Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
Airbus Flexrotor VTOL tactical drone with 12-24 hour endurance provides long-range EO/IR surveillance from tiny pads on land or at sea for persistent border and maritime ISTAR (Picture source: Airbus).
Flexrotor sits at the upper end of the small tactical Group 2 class. The air vehicle weighs 25 kg at maximum launch weight, measures 2 m in length with a 3 m wingspan and a 2.2 m rotor, and is powered by a compact 28 cc two-stroke engine. It can take off and recover fully autonomously from a 3.7 x 3.7 m pad on land or at sea, eliminating the need for catapults or arresting gear. Typical endurance in operational configuration is 12 to 14 hours, with an 8 kg payload bay and dash speeds around 140 km/h; industry data cites cruise near 87 km/h, data-link ranges of roughly 150 to 200 km, and a service ceiling above 6,000 m, with a lower hover ceiling around 1,300 m at max weight.
Airbus markets Flexrotor as a multi-mission expeditionary UAS, optimized for long-endurance ISTAR over land and sea. Its space, weight, and power margins allow operators to field stabilized EO/IR turrets, maritime surface-search sensors, electronic support suites, and communications-relay payloads in various combinations. During NATO’s REPMUS 2025 maritime exercise in Portugal, the drone flew more than ten hours on station, cued a loitering munition using real-time coordinates, and streamed imagery directly into the German MESE battle-management system aboard allied ships, validating its integration into complex naval kill chains.
For Uzbekistan, the tactical logic is straightforward: the country faces porous borders with Afghanistan and Tajikistan, rugged terrain, and persistent challenges from trafficking and militant movements that are difficult to monitor with manned aircraft alone. Flexrotor’s runway-independent VTOL profile and small footprint mean it can be deployed from forward border posts, mobile patrol vehicles, or riverine and reservoir patrol craft to watch infiltration routes, remote valleys, and logistics corridors for many hours at a time, then pass precise coordinates to ground units or helicopter detachments. Airbus already has a footprint in Uzbekistan through H125 and H130 light helicopters and ongoing talks on the H145, giving Tashkent a ready-made industrial and training partner for crewed–uncrewed teaming.
Flexrotor also fills a specific niche inside Uzbekistan’s rapidly expanding unmanned inventory. Turkish Bayraktar TB2 and ANKA systems give the armed forces and border troops medium-altitude strike and broad-area surveillance capacity, but they demand airfield infrastructure and larger crews. Flexrotor drops into the gap between quadcopters and MALE drones: small enough to travel in a case with a two-person detachment, yet capable of multi-sensor missions lasting half a day, including artillery cueing, convoy overwatch, pipeline and rail security, and support to internal-security forces during counterterrorism operations. Initial training and maintenance will be handled in close cooperation with Airbus Helicopters, with Uzbek crews likely based in existing helicopter regiments and border-guard aviation units before the system proliferates to more remote posts.
The Flexrotor family has already logged hundreds of hours with the U.S. Navy’s Task Force 59 in the Middle East, flying from small surface combatants and unmanned surface vessels, and has been trialed at sea by the French Navy in shipborne surveillance roles. Airbus’ 2024 acquisition of original developer Aerovel pulled the design into a broader tactical UAS roadmap centered on crewed–uncrewed teaming, alongside heavier systems like SIRTAP and the VSR700. Compared with established shipborne VTOL drones such as the Schiebel S-100 or larger catapult-launched RQ-21 Blackjack, Flexrotor trades raw payload volume for a much smaller operating footprint and impressive endurance in the 25 kg class.
The contract signals another step in Central Asia’s accelerating drone race, where Turkish platforms in particular have reshaped force structures from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. By pairing Western VTOL ISR with Turkish MALE drones and an expanding Airbus helicopter fleet, Tashkent is quietly building a layered reconnaissance architecture that will matter not only for border control, but also for any future crisis on its southern flank. For Airbus, securing the first Flexrotor export in Central Asia turns a technically interesting product into a concrete reference program in one of the world’s most dynamic unmanned-aircraft markets.
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Uzbekistan has signed a new Flexrotor uncrewed aircraft deal at the Dubai Airshow, marking the platform’s first entry into Central Asia. The long endurance system will strengthen the country’s surveillance network along difficult border regions and add new crewed and uncrewed teaming options.
According to Airbus, on 19 November 2025, Uzbekistan’s state enterprise Uztechtrade signed a contract at the Dubai Airshow for an undisclosed number of Flexrotor uncrewed aerial systems, marking the first sale of this platform in Central Asia. The Flexrotor will be used primarily for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance missions and integrated in advanced crewed–uncrewed teaming with the country’s helicopter fleet to boost situational awareness and mission effectiveness.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link
Airbus Flexrotor VTOL tactical drone with 12-24 hour endurance provides long-range EO/IR surveillance from tiny pads on land or at sea for persistent border and maritime ISTAR (Picture source: Airbus).
Flexrotor sits at the upper end of the small tactical Group 2 class. The air vehicle weighs 25 kg at maximum launch weight, measures 2 m in length with a 3 m wingspan and a 2.2 m rotor, and is powered by a compact 28 cc two-stroke engine. It can take off and recover fully autonomously from a 3.7 x 3.7 m pad on land or at sea, eliminating the need for catapults or arresting gear. Typical endurance in operational configuration is 12 to 14 hours, with an 8 kg payload bay and dash speeds around 140 km/h; industry data cites cruise near 87 km/h, data-link ranges of roughly 150 to 200 km, and a service ceiling above 6,000 m, with a lower hover ceiling around 1,300 m at max weight.
Airbus markets Flexrotor as a multi-mission expeditionary UAS, optimized for long-endurance ISTAR over land and sea. Its space, weight, and power margins allow operators to field stabilized EO/IR turrets, maritime surface-search sensors, electronic support suites, and communications-relay payloads in various combinations. During NATO’s REPMUS 2025 maritime exercise in Portugal, the drone flew more than ten hours on station, cued a loitering munition using real-time coordinates, and streamed imagery directly into the German MESE battle-management system aboard allied ships, validating its integration into complex naval kill chains.
For Uzbekistan, the tactical logic is straightforward: the country faces porous borders with Afghanistan and Tajikistan, rugged terrain, and persistent challenges from trafficking and militant movements that are difficult to monitor with manned aircraft alone. Flexrotor’s runway-independent VTOL profile and small footprint mean it can be deployed from forward border posts, mobile patrol vehicles, or riverine and reservoir patrol craft to watch infiltration routes, remote valleys, and logistics corridors for many hours at a time, then pass precise coordinates to ground units or helicopter detachments. Airbus already has a footprint in Uzbekistan through H125 and H130 light helicopters and ongoing talks on the H145, giving Tashkent a ready-made industrial and training partner for crewed–uncrewed teaming.
Flexrotor also fills a specific niche inside Uzbekistan’s rapidly expanding unmanned inventory. Turkish Bayraktar TB2 and ANKA systems give the armed forces and border troops medium-altitude strike and broad-area surveillance capacity, but they demand airfield infrastructure and larger crews. Flexrotor drops into the gap between quadcopters and MALE drones: small enough to travel in a case with a two-person detachment, yet capable of multi-sensor missions lasting half a day, including artillery cueing, convoy overwatch, pipeline and rail security, and support to internal-security forces during counterterrorism operations. Initial training and maintenance will be handled in close cooperation with Airbus Helicopters, with Uzbek crews likely based in existing helicopter regiments and border-guard aviation units before the system proliferates to more remote posts.
The Flexrotor family has already logged hundreds of hours with the U.S. Navy’s Task Force 59 in the Middle East, flying from small surface combatants and unmanned surface vessels, and has been trialed at sea by the French Navy in shipborne surveillance roles. Airbus’ 2024 acquisition of original developer Aerovel pulled the design into a broader tactical UAS roadmap centered on crewed–uncrewed teaming, alongside heavier systems like SIRTAP and the VSR700. Compared with established shipborne VTOL drones such as the Schiebel S-100 or larger catapult-launched RQ-21 Blackjack, Flexrotor trades raw payload volume for a much smaller operating footprint and impressive endurance in the 25 kg class.
The contract signals another step in Central Asia’s accelerating drone race, where Turkish platforms in particular have reshaped force structures from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. By pairing Western VTOL ISR with Turkish MALE drones and an expanding Airbus helicopter fleet, Tashkent is quietly building a layered reconnaissance architecture that will matter not only for border control, but also for any future crisis on its southern flank. For Airbus, securing the first Flexrotor export in Central Asia turns a technically interesting product into a concrete reference program in one of the world’s most dynamic unmanned-aircraft markets.
