Indonesian Navy conducts land-based trials of China-made Honeycomb Aerospace HC-545 VTOL UAV at Pasuruan air base
Why It MattersThe trial signals potential Indonesian interest in Chinese unmanned aerial platforms, a segment where medium-endurance VTOL UAVs are gaining traction for ISR and mapping roles.
The Indonesian Navy has carried out trials of the Chinese-made HC-545 vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle at its air base in Pasuruan, with the evaluation described as successful. Frengky Mahulette, a member of Commission I of the Indonesian House of Representatives, confirmed the trials in a recent social media post, noting that Rear Admiral Mulyatna, chief of the Indonesian Navy's Research and Development Service, attended the evaluation. Mahulette did not disclose details of the programme or indicate whether a procurement contract is under consideration.
The HC-545 is manufactured by Beijing-based Honeycomb Aerospace, which describes it as a medium-sized VTOL fixed-wing UAV built primarily from carbon-fibre composite materials, with a high-wing compound aerodynamic configuration and modular wings, tail booms and VTOL assemblies to aid transportation and rapid field deployment. The company states the aircraft can remain airborne for up to eight hours while carrying payloads of up to 50 kg, and it is offered with encrypted data links supporting operational ranges of 50 km, 100 km or 150 km depending on configuration, using a petrol-powered propulsion system adaptable to lowland and high-altitude environments. The UAV's modular payload architecture allows configuration for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, communications, and mapping missions.
