Role & capabilities
- Portable reconnaissance
- Real-time imagery
- Automatic navigation
- Primary domain
- Air
- System type
- Reconnaissance aircraft
- Developer / manufacturer
- National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology
- Origin / production countries
- Taiwan
- Other names
- No additional names recorded
- Variants / configurations
- Not distinguished in reviewed sources
- Operators / programme customers
- Not identified in reviewed sources
Evidence & current status
Family military-use material does not resolve variant-specific current acceptance. Cardinal III remains separate.
Cardinal II is a compact Taiwanese reconnaissance aircraft intended to place observation capability close to small teams. NCSIST's brochure describes hand launch, an electro-optical camera, automatic navigation and real-time transmission of imagery. Recovery options include a parachute or a gliding landing, distinguishing the configuration from a vertical-take-off multicopter.
The developer's wider Cardinal material describes military-exercise and disaster-response applications. That supports the family's defence relevance, but does not resolve the current inventory or prove that every illustrated use involved the same Cardinal II configuration. This record consequently does not assign a fleet count or an unqualified current-service claim.
Cardinal III is a later, separately referenced development and should not be treated as an alias for Cardinal II. The available official brochure is useful for the basic operating arrangement but insufficient for a fully dated contemporary performance table. Until a configuration-specific technical sheet is available, dimensions, mass, endurance and range remain unknown rather than being copied from secondary family summaries.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Airframe | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Launch / recovery | Hand launch; parachute or glide recovery | Supplier specification; no independent performance validation established. Source |
| Propulsion | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Dimensions | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Mass | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Endurance | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Range | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Speed | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Altitude | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Payload | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Sensors | Electro-optical camera | Supplier specification; no independent performance validation established. Source |
| Communications / navigation | GPS-supported automatic navigation and real-time image transmission | Supplier specification; no independent performance validation established. Source |
Publication history
- — Published reference update.
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Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.
- NCSIST Cardinal II official brochure (opens in a new tab)Manufacturer / programme
- NCSIST Cardinal family applications (opens in a new tab)Manufacturer / programme