NCSIST Cardinal

Variants

The Cardinal family of small unmanned aerial vehicles is produced by Taiwan’s National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology. The first version, Cardinal I, served as the initial prototype. Development of the Cardinal II started in 2009, improving on the original with a redesigned payload, a digital data link, and an automatic tracking antenna. It was shown at the 2015 Paris Air Show and is used by the Republic of China Marine Corps and Army.

Beyond military roles, it can support civilian tasks like remote sensing and disaster relief. In 2016, the Taiwanese Navy purchased 54 units. A Cardinal II system consists of the aircraft, an antenna, and a ground control box. It is hand-launched and recovered via parachute, equipped with an autopilot that transmits real-time data and imagery.

Its remote control range is 8 kilometers. In service, a Taiwanese Cardinal II unit typically has six primary aircraft and three backups. The Cardinal III adds vertical takeoff and landing, reportedly optimized for coastal surveillance and intended for Marine Corps use. It was displayed at the 2023 Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition.

In 2019, the same exhibition featured the Fire Cardinal for the first time. NCSIST describes it as an “air-to-ground assault” UAV, a type known as a loitering munition. This twin-propeller drone is about four feet long with a six-foot wingspan, weighing roughly 15 pounds. It carries an electro-optical and infrared sensor along with advanced target discrimination systems.