Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced his country has developed its own unarmed aerial drone with help from Iran, China and Russia, saying the drones had military and civilian uses.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced his country has developed its own unarmed aerial drone with help from Iran, China and Russia, saying the drones had military and civilian uses.

It is "one of three aircraft that we have made here, and we will continue to manufacture them," Chavez said Wednesday during a meeting with defense chiefs.
"Russia, China, Iran and other allied countries" had contributed to the project, he added.

The drone has a range of 100 kilometers, can reach an altitude of 3,000 meters according to General Julio Morales, head of the state-run Cavim arms manufacturer, which developed the aircraft.

They can stay aloft for up to 90 minutes and can transmit real-time video and images, and is currently being upgraded in order to carry out night flights, he added.

The three-by-four-meter drone was part of a system "exclusively for defense," aimed at surveillance and the monitoring of pipelines, dams and other rural infrastructure, Morales said.