United States have provided the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Albanian Armed Forces with the PUMA Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), as announced Thursday by the US Embassy to Tirana.

According to the diplomatic mission institution, this week was marked by the travel of Members of the New Jersey National Guard traveled to Albania to perform the simulation flights with the newly acquired PUMA UAS.

Apart from the simulation flights, the US soldiers also supported their Albanian military colleagues with inventory, maintenance, and training on the new equipment, added the US Embassy.

“Members of the New Jersey National Guard traveled to Albania this week to conduct simulation flights with the newly acquired PUMA Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). The PUMAs were provided to the Albanian Armed Forces as part of the United States support of the 2nd Infantry Battalion. The New Jersey National Guard soldiers have spent the week providing support to our Albanian military colleagues with inventory, maintenance, and training on the new equipment. One of the New Jersey National Guard soldiers, First Lieutenant Çollaku, was born in Albania and moved to New Jersey as a teenager. She is now an Army Officer and this state partnership program is especially meaningful for her to return to Albania”, announced the Embassy.

However, the AeroVironment RQ-20 Puma is a small, battery powered, American, hand-launched unmanned aircraft system produced by AeroVironment based in California. Primary mission is surveillance and intelligence gathering using an electro-optical and infrared camera.

At just 23.5 pounds, this ultra-lightweight Group 2 aircraft is launchable by hand or bungee and provides up to 6.5 hours flight endurance, delivering Group 2 capabilities in a Group 1 footprint while stowed efficiently in a two-case mission packout. Puma LE is All Environment and provides an operational range of 60 km in land and maritime environments when used with our Long-Range Tracking Antenna.

The secondary payload bay offers dedicated power and Ethernet, providing 3.4 lb of payload capacity in addition to the integrated Mantis i45 gimbaled EO/IR sensor and NVG-visible laser illuminator for expanded mission capabilities. Its plug-and-play, interoperable LRU components can be shared across other Puma AE aircraft, according to the AeroVironment.