Complete Guide Drones By

Complete Guide by

Drones The air, sea, land defence decision-maker’s technology reference monitor. Established 1976 monitor. technology reference sea, land defence decision-maker’s The air, INTERNATIONAL:

Supplement to issue 3/2008

Premonition or Logical Assumption?

.V. Roe (Avro), Breguet, Curtiss, given in the earlier editions of Armada’s supple- Caproni, Convair, Dewoitine, Douglas, ments on drones, and we would not fall too short A Grumman, McDonnell, Fairchild, of the number of military aircraft manufacturers Fairey, Focke-Wulf, Handley-Page, Heinkel, of yesteryear. Laughead (Lockheed brothers’ original name), Ford, Hurel-Dubois, Messerschmitt, Maurane, The development of military aviation only North American, Nieuport, Latécoère, Polikar- started to soar during the Great War and went on pov, Republic, Rockwell, Sopwith, Saunders- to grow to the above-mentioned telephone Roe, Spad, De Havilland, Supermarine, Vought – directory situation until the Second World War. these illustrious names now belong to a long Then consolidations (as euphemistically put) gone past. The list is much longer and could fill a started to take place. Extraordinarily, the devel- phone directory, maybe two. opment of drones followed the same application pattern as that of piloted aircraft at the begin- Today, how many names are left in the defence ning of the last century. The first aircraft were aviation world? Fingers of only two hands suffice used as observation “apparatuses” (aircraft were to reckon them: Boeing, Dassault, Saab, Lock- initially referred to as “apparatus” in early main- heed Martin, Embraer, MiG, Eads, Sukhoi, BAE tenance manuals), particularly to spot enemy Systems, a few trainer aircraft manufacturers artillery movements. Then came the first and, apart from a few of code-numbered facto- bombers – in fact initially the same types as the ries in the Peoples Republic of China (generally observation aircraft, but from which bombs were clones from the Eastern World), that is about it. tossed overboard by the ‘co-pilot’ in WWI. Final- But for how long? Particularly in Europe, where ly these needed to be countered, so the intercep- there currently are only two manufacturers that tor aircraft was invented, which is possibly a task still produce fighter aircraft of their own. that will be transferred to the so-called Ucav for its own self-protection in the future. The reader will, by now, have guessed what we are driving at. Look at the four-page spread in There is every reason to believe that the drone the centre of this supplement. It is far, very far, company consolidation process will also follow from being exhaustive and only refers to drones the same pattern as that of traditional aircraft that necessarily had to be cut down in terms of manufacturers. In fact, it already started a few numbers by either technical or strategic rele- years ago when a Vietnam-age drone pioneer – vance, or both – granted, it is a choice that can Ryan – was taken over by Northrop Grumman, always be disputed. Add to this the other makes itself a company resulting from a massive consoli - and types mentioned in the text and many others dation. Eric H. Biass

1 United States Fly High Complete Guide

The Northrop Grumman Global Hawk will attract military and paramilitary users

While the United States and the Soviet Union were the first to re-explore developed for the US Air Force. The uncrewed aircraft technologies since the second world war in the 1960s, notably United Arab Emirates use the Tcom Tas (Tactical Aerostat System) with 17M and through Ryan and Tupolev (but with mixed results in both cases), Israel was real- 71M balloons. ly the first nation to turn the discipline into a viable proposition in the 1980s, before being overtaken in terms of market size by the United States. Hale The leader in the Hale (high altitude, long Roy Braybrook FY07. Even when small hand-launched endurance) category is still the Northrop systems are excluded, American drones Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk. The first are currently flying over 15,000 hours per of seven YRQ-4A development aircraft ompared to spending on manned month in southwest Asia. The AAI RQ-7 flew in 1998. Nine production RQ-4A aircraft (the Lockheed Martin F-22 Shadow 200 is contributing over 7000, the Block 10s (seven for the US Air Force C alone receiving over $ 3.5 billion in General Atomics MQ-1 Predator over and two Global Hawk Maritime Demon- FY08), that on drones is small, but rising 6000 (out of a global total of more than stration aircraft for the US Navy) have impressively. The Washington-based Teal 10,000), the Northrop Grumman MQ-5 been followed by six stretched RQ-4B Group estimated in late 2007 that the Hunter around 1700 and the Northrop Block 20s, with gross weight increased to worldwide annual spend on drones will Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk over 500 14,628 kg. The first of 26 RQ-4B Block almost double from the current $ 3.4 hours. 30s with ‘multi-intelligence’ payload billion to around $ 7.3 billion within a including Asip (Advanced Signals Intelli- decade, thereby making this the most Lighter-than-Air gence Program) was delivered to the US dynamic growth sector of the aerospace Air Force in late 2007. The service plans business. Uncrewed lighter-than-air vehicles to buy up to 15 RQ-4B Block 40s with the The Pentagon’s own forecasts show its exploit the drone’s freedom from the Northrop Grumman/Raytheon MP-Rtip unmanned aircraft procurement budget constraints of human endurance. The sys- (Multi-Platform Radar Technlogy Inser- rising steadily from $ 878.4 million in tems used operationally by the US Army FY07 to a peak of $ two billion in FY10. are the Raytheon/Tcom Raid (Rapid In the latter year, America’s correspon- Aerostat Initial Deployment), the Lock- On the Cover ding RDT&E expenditure is predicted as heed Martin/ISL-Bosch Aerospace Reap ill modularity have a future $ 1.3 billion and operating & mainte- (Rapidly Elevated Aerostat Platform) in drones? Eads, France, nance as $ 421.2 million. and the Lockheed Martin PTDS (Persis- W Spain and Germany seem to The US armed services are estimated tent Threat Detection System). The think so, as they are studying this fea- to already have a total of around 5300 Raytheon/Tcom Jlens (Joint Land sibility with the drones in their inventories, and this num- Attack Elevated Netted Sensor) is being Advanced Modu- ber is clearly set to rise dramatically. Pro- developed to warn deployed US forces of lar UAV featuring curement of the Aerovironment (AV) cruise missile attack. ‘plug and play’ RQ-11 Raven alone is aimed at 3333 sys- Other nations using aerostat-mounted modules, and this tems, each with three air vehicles. The sensors include Israel, with Elta EL/M- not only includes Raven has been flying over 12,000 2083 radars on Tcom platforms. India has payloads but also hours/month, and is expected to fly bought similar systems. Israel also oper- wings of varying 300,000 in 2008. ates the Tcom 32M aerostat with EL/I- spans to best match The US military drone flying total was 3330 radar. Pakistan uses the ILC Dover the mission profile. 165,000 hours in FY06, and 258,000 in Tars (Tethered Aerostat Radar System),

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Shadow and Innovation That Works are registered trademarks of AAI Corporation. One System is a registered trademark of the U.S. Army. Aerosonde is a registered trademark of Aerosonde Pty. *AAI is teamed with prime contractors Honeywell on the Micro Air Vehicle program and with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., on the One System aaicorp.com Ground Control Station for the Sky Warrior Extended-Range/Multi-Purpose unmanned aircraft system program. Personnel seen in this ad are models, not soldiers. mated to be worth around $ 3.08 billion This illustration may (including $ 780 million for the procure- relate to the study ment of three initial production aircraft) programme for a over the next five years. A further 62 twin-engined high- production aircraft are expected to cost altitude, long $ 3.4 billion in current values. endurance drone The RQ-4 will form the uncrewed project that Boeing adjunct to the Boeing P-8A Poseidon. The is conducting in Navy wants to be able to mount five 24- cooperation with hour orbits (one over each deployed fleet) Aurora Flight for seven days at a time, at 3700 km radius Sciences. (Boeing) from their bases, with 80% reliability. Northrop Grumman was selected for the Bams SDD (system development and demonstration) phase on 22 April 2008. This is to lead to first delivery in 2011, Lrip (low-rate initial production) in 2011, IOC (initial operational capability) with three Lrip aircraft in 2015 and FOC (full operational capability) in 2019 at the Complete Guide same time as the P-8A. tion Program) sensor, giving it a total of Eads, was awarded a $ 559 million con- Australia will take part in the SDD 54 production aircraft. Two of the YRQ- tract by the German Ministry of Defence phase, expecting to acquire Bams under 4As have been assigned to Nasa/Dryden. to build the Euro Hawk sigint, surveil- the RAAF’s Air 7000 programme, to oper- Three RQ-4A Block 10s are deployed lance and reconnaissance system, a deriv- ate with the Lockheed Martin P-3C and with US Central Command (and report- ative of the RQ-4B Block 20, with a later the P-8A, at an increased radius of edly based in Qatar) for missions over payload developed by Eads. The first con- 5560 km. It is planned to place a produc- southwest Asia. tract includes one Block 20 to be deliv- tion order (probably for six aircraft with an The US Air Force FY09 budget request ered in 2010. The remaining four air vehi- option on six more) in February 2012. includes five RQ-4B Block 40s for $ 712.2 cles are planned for delivery in 2011 and The Northrop Grumman proposal for million. Northrop Grumman has quoted a 2014. Bams is the ‘RQ-4N’, a modified RQ-4B unit flyaway cost of $ 66.3 million for a The RQ-4B has also been selected for Block 20 with an endurance of over 24 Block 40, including a $ 39 million payload. Nato’s Alliance Ground Surveillance hours at 3700 km radius. This will allow In 2007 Washington formally declined to (AGS) programme, now to be based on the requirement to be met by two or sell RQ-4s to South Korea until MTCR eight off-the-shelf RQ-4B Block 40s. three aircraft for each orbit. regulations are changed. Northrop Grumman will be prime con- One alternative to the RQ-4N was the On 22 March 2008, an RQ4 – the first tractor, supported by various companies optionally manned Boeing Bams 550, Global Hawk Block 20 – surpassed both from the 21 participating nations. based on the Gulfstream G550 corporate the official and unofficial world un-refu- jet. The G550 was originally designated G- elled endurance records by completing a Bams V SP, and is operated in small numbers by mission of 33.1 hours at altitudes of over the US services as the C-37A. An earlier 60,000 ft over Edwards Air Force Base. The latest major win for the RQ-4 is the Gulfstream proposal for a drone version In January 2007 EuroHawk, a joint US Navy’s Bams (Broad Area Maritime was labelled ‘RQ-37’. Around 200 mem- venture by Northrop Grumman and Surveillance) programme, which is esti- bers of the G-V series have been built.

Deliveries of the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper to the US Air Force began in March 2007. A Reaper is shown here in Afghanistan armed with Hellfire missiles and GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bombs. (General Atomics)

4 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008

Complete Guide Britain’s Royal Air Force regards the Reaper as a dual-role drone, with equal emphasis on the surveillance and attack roles, whereas the US Air Force sees it more as a dedicated weapons platform. (General Atomics)

The Boeing Bams 550 would have been Piston engines are relevant to less Aurora is also participating in a about three times as heavy as the RQ-4N, extreme Hale missions. The 9000-kg Boe- Boeing-led study of a larger, twin- grossing 43,250 kg, and the airframe- ing Condor, powered by two 130-kW Con- engined drone. engine combination cost at least 50% tinental engines, reached 66,980 ft and had In February 2007 Mitsubishi was more, but offered a much larger payload. an endurance of 80 hours. Boeing is now awarded a contract as part of Japan’s Compared to the RQ-4N, the Boeing proj- working with Aurora Flight Sciences under Technology Research and Development ect would have cruised somewhat lower, with a ceiling of 51,000 ft, and had a shorter endurance of 16 hours, but with a faster dash speed, cruising at up to 890 km/h.

Extreme Endurance In 2007 Darpa launched its remarkable Vulture programme, aimed at developing a drone that could stay in the air for five years with a 450-kg payload. Vulture is seen as an alternative to Rapid Eye: a system to place a Hale drone anywhere in the world within one hour using a ballistic rocket and a self-deploying air- Italy is the first export customer for the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator. The IAF has frame. purchased two batches, some of which began a deployment to Ali AB in Iraq in In the solar-powered category it is January 2005. (General Atomics) noteworthy that in 2007 a 31-kg Qinetiq Zephyr 6.1 achieved a flight of 54 hours US Army funding on the 3175-kg Orion Institute Future Unmanned Aircraft Sys- and reached a maximum altitude of Hall (High Altitude, Long Loiter) drone, tems Study. Mitsubishi is to carry out the 58,355 ft during flight trials in New Mex- which will burn hydrogen in a piston preliminary design of a piston-engined ico. The Zephyr used amorphous silicon engine, and is aimed at a four-day drone that could fly higher than the solar arrays supplied by United Solar endurance at 65,000 ft. The first of two Ori- Global Hawk and carry radar and Ovonic, and Li-S (lithium-sulphur) bat- ons may fly before the end of 2008 with a infrared sensors to detect Chinese and teries by Sion Power, giving a specific conventionally fuelled engine, leaving the North Korean missile launches. energy of 350 Wh/kg. advanced version to fly in 2009. In 2005 AV flew a sub-scale Global Observer with a hydrogen fuel cell, this being the first flight by a hydrogen- The MQ-1C Sky fuelled aircraft. The projected full-scale Warrior differs from GO-2 would gross 4100 kg with a 450 kg the Predator in payload and fly for up to seven days at up having a Thielert to 65,000 ft. In September 2007 US Spe- diesel HFE (heavy cial Operations Command (Socom) fuel engine) and awarded AV a contract for the develop- atol (automatic ment of the Global Observer, involving take-off and the construction of up to three aircraft landing) facility, to and aiming to demonstrate an endurance avoid the need for of seven days within three years. a qualified pilot. (General Atomics) High-to-Medium Once drones began to be used as weapons platforms (in 2001), warload-range consid- erations militated in favour of something larger than existing Male (medium alti-

6 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008

extended the wingspan from 20.1 to 26.8 metres. Fuel has been increased by 907 kg to 2722 kg, and payload is up to 2426 kg The Mariner’s cruise speed will be 350 km/h, with a dash capability of 425 km/h. Endurance is increased to 48 hours and ferry range to 13,000 km. Ceiling is 50,000 ft, but patrols would normally be per- formed at around 40,000 ft. Compared to the high-flying jets, the Mariner is argued to be more suited to frequent changes of altitude, to take a closer look at ships. In promoting the Mariner for the Bams programme, General Atomics teamed with Lockheed Martin, who designed a fully computerised ‘stickless’ The 170-kg AAI RQ-7B Shadow 200 has served with the US Army since 2002 and cockpit. Four or five aircraft were pro- has also been adopted by the US Marine Corps to replace the RQ-2 Pointer. It is posed for each US Navy orbit. A Mariner launched from a ten-metre rail. (AAI) demonstrator has already been evaluated by the Australian authorities in the con- Complete Guide tude, long endurance) designs. This new In April 2007 the US Air Force issued text of surveillance of the country’s need might have been satisfied by a twin- a request for information for a multi-pur- North-West Shelf, the principal problem piston engined project, but the simpler pose drone system to replace both the area for drug-running, people-smuggling approach was to install an off-the-shelf tur- MQ-1 and MQ-9. and illegal fishing. boprop, such as the Honeywell TPE331 or Britain’s RAF has purchased an initial Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A. batch of three Reapers, the first of which Males The leading drone in this new category was deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan in is the 4763-kg General Atomics MQ-9 September 2007. A further batch of ten has The drone that is piling up the hours for Predator-B, which has been given the US been requested, together with nine Gener- the US Air Force in southwest Asia is the Air Force name Reaper. The MQ-9 has a payload capacity of 1700 kg (including 363 kg internal) and a ceiling of up to 50,000 ft. The AV RQ-11B However, relative to the piston-engined Raven-B is the MQ-1, endurance is reduced from 40 to 30 current leader in hours. It is powered by a 670-kW TPE331 the hand-launched and will use the Lockheed Martin AGM- drone category, 114 Hellfire II missile, and the Raytheon with well over GBU-12 Paveway II and Boeing GBU-38 5000 already Jdam guided bombs. delivered and The GAO has estimated that the MQ- production heading 9 programme will cost $ 782.2 million (in for more than twice FY07 values) for 63 aircraft, including $ that number. (US 209.4 million for R&D. The FY09 US Air Air Force) Force budget request includes nine MQ- 9s for $ 161.4 million, indicating $ 18 million apiece with initial spares, compared to less than $ ten million for the MQ-1. The US Navy is acquiring one MQ-9 for al Atomics APY-8 Lynx radars and nine General Atomics MQ-1B Predator-A, R&D purposes. Raytheon Das-1 multi-spectral targeting which is operated from Balad AB in Iraq The first YMQ-9A flew in 2001. Deliv- systems (also known as the MTS-B). How- and Kandahar AB in Afghanistan. In- eries to US Air Force’s first operational ever, Reaper production is booked by flight control is provided via landlines Reaper unit, the 42nd Attack Squadron the Air Force until 2012 and, besides, and satellite links from the Predator at Creech AFB, Nevada, began in March the British Ministry of Defence is short Operations Center at Nellis AFB, 2007, and the first operational sortie was of funds. Nevada or (more recently) Air National flown over Afghanistan in the following In developing the Mariner version to Guard bases in Arizona, California and October. The service plans to buy 50 to 70 primarily meet the US Navy’s Bams North Dakota. The US Air Force plans to Reapers by 2012 to equip and sustain requirement, General Atomics increased increase its current twelve Predator in- nine four-aircraft systems. the gross weight from 4763 to 5897 kg, and theatre combat air patrols to 21 by December 2009. Over 170 MQ-1s have been delivered One of the most (out of the 250+ Gnat/Predator/Reaper significant family total) and 97 currently remain in developments in the the US Air Force’s published inventory. 20-kg category has The service has requested 38 MQ-1s (for been the Insitu $ 378.2 million) in the FY09 budget, fol- Insight, which lowing 48 in FY07 and 24 in FY08. Six provided the basis MQ-1s have been sold to Italy (five for the 18-kg assembled by Meteor), and five more are Boeing/Insitu on order. Since 2005, three Italian Air Scaneagle and its Force Predators have been operating launch and from Ali (formerly Tallil) AB in Iraq. recovery system. The MQ-1B has a gross weight of 1022 (Insitu) kg and is equipped with an 86-kW Rotax 914F engine and a Raytheon AAS-52 MTS-A EO/IR turret. It can carry two

8 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 unmatched in unmanned

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Visit us online at www.honeywell.com/mav International Sales: 49 (6181) 401 681 U.S. Sales: 505.828.5027 Technical information: 505.828.7895 © 2008 Honeywell International Inc. All rights reserved Defense Systems BLU-108 munition. It The 9.1-kg Advanced was deployed to Macedonia in 1999 and Composites Research to Iraq in 2003. Silver Fox is to be In Iraq the Hunter serves alongside the purchased for the US US Marine Corps’ elderly 205-kg RQ-2 Navy, US Marine Pioneer (33 still available), which is being Corps, US Army and replaced by the 170-kg AAI RQ-7B Shad- Socom. This example ow 200. The latter achieved IOC with the was being used by US Army in 2002 and is used in both Iraq the US Geological and Afghanistan. The RQ-7B is powered Survey. (Advanced by a 28-kW UEL AR-741 engine and has Composites Research) an endurance of six hours. The US Army is already funded to acquire 85 RQ-7B systems with four air vehicles in each. In Iraq, a single system can generate up to 20 sorties per day. Some Army RQ-7Bs are being equipped with Harris PRC-152C Falcon III radios to act as communication relays. The US Marine Corps selected the Shadow in Complete Guide 2006 and fielded the first of 13 systems in Hellfire missiles under the wings. It has a production decision is set for February May 2007 ceiling of 25,000 ft, a cruise speed of 130 2010, and IOC for March 2010. Other drones employed operationally km/h and a dash speed of 217 km/h. The The Army reportedly asked for the Sky by American services include: the 59-kg MQ-1 requires a runway at least 23 Warrior to be designated MQ-12A, but it BAI Aerosystems Tern, the 9.1-kg metres wide but only 1500 metres long. It appears in a May 2007 contract as the Advanced Ceramics Research Silver Fox is capable of sorties of over 24 hours, or MQ-1B Block X, and has now become the and (in the electrically-powered hand- 16 hours with external stores. MQ-1C. There is naturally pressure for the launched category) the 3.2-kg Lockheed General Atomics’ I-Gnat-ER US Air Force and Army to buy and oper- Martin Desert Hawk, and AV’s 3.76-kg (Improved Gnat, Extended Range) or ate a common drone. The former is taking FQM-151A Pointer, 2.7-kg RQ-14 Drag- ‘Warrior Alpha’ is similar to the MQ-1 delivery of two MQ-1Cs in July and on Eye and 1.9-kg RQ-11B Raven. but has satcom capabilities and an August 2008 for evaluation, presumably The Tern is an unusual design, is oper- improved sensor/designator. Five have from the Army’s FY06 batch. ated by Socom but is no longer in produc- been acquired by the US Army and a fur- In May 2007 Lockheed Martin tion. The first operational version was fit- ther dozen are being acquired. The type announced that it had been selected by ted with massive tyres to allow the use of was first deployed to Iraq in 2004. the US Army to provide a low-frequency, rough runways in Afghanistan where it The US Army’s production Sky War- synthetic aperture Tactical Reconnais- was used for force protection and to dis- rior is a further development of the US sance and Counter-Concealment pense a 9.0-kg unattended ground sensor. Air Force’s MQ-1B, with a 100-kW Thiel- Enabled Radar (Tracer) for Predator- A naval version was developed in 2004 ert diesel heavy fuel engine. This burns class drones, based on the company’s with skids and a tail hook to allow its use JP-8, rather than the Avgas required by foliage penetration technology. The con- from helipads fitted with arrester wires. the Rotax unit. A change to automatic tract is valued at around $ 40 million. Socom is now believed to be operating the take-off and landing (atol) reflects the Viking family consisting of the Viking 100 fact that Army drones are not operated Tactical American (68 kilos, nine kg payload, 14 hours by qualified pilots. Unlike the Predator-A endurance), Viking 300 (144 kilos, 13.6 kilo it will have a synthetic aperture radar The type that the Warrior will replace in payload, eight to ten hours endurance) and (Sar) with moving target indicator (MTI) US Army service is the Northrop Grum- the Viking 400 (224 kilos, 27 kg payload ten facility, complementing the EO/IR sensor man MQ-5B Hunter, of which 54 remain to twelve hours endurance). The company and laser ranger/designator. in service with III, V and XVIII Corps. is also building the Tiger shark for the The Sky Warrior also has an airborne The 885-kg MQ-5B is powered by two Naval Air Command. The aircraft is based Ethernet connecting the vehicle’s avion- 42.5-kW Mercedes heavy fuel engines, on the Viking design and carries L-3 BAI’s ics, payloads and weapons, and a multi- and is cleared to use the Northrop Grum- serried 66 electro-optical sensor or role tactical common datalink to commu- man Viper Strike missile and Textron infrared payloads. nicate with ground stations and other Army aircraft. Take-off weight is increased to 1450 kg, and there are two On the USS Saipan 227-kg and two 113-kg hardpoints for (LHA-2) amphibious weapons. Each Sky Warrior system will assault ship, this include twelve air vehicles. Boeing/Insitu The US Army now plans to acquire Scaneagle, eleven Sky Warrior systems with 132 air launched from the vehicles by 2015, and possibly more later. catapult on the left, In 2007, when twelve systems were has just been planned, the GAO had estimated a pro- recovered by gramme expenditure of $ 1.825 billion to engaging a cable that date. suspended from the The Sky Warrior SDD contract was Skyhook rig. (US awarded to General Atomics in August Navy) 2005, four air vehicles were purchased in FY06 and the manufacture of a batch of 17 SDD aircraft was funded in FY07. The low-rate production decision is scheduled for July 2008, leading to twelve aircraft per year from FY08 onwards. The FY09 dozen is budgeted as $ 174.6 million. The full-rate

10 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 AV_Armada_6_08_OL.eps 5/5/08 1:45:46 PM Complete Guide Building on Scaneagle experience, Insitu sees the way ahead as a far heavier (59 kg) conventional twin-boom configuration. This Integrator prototype flew in August 2006 and a near-production aircraft appeared a year later. (Insitu)

Another one-of-a-kind is the Silver Corps as an interim ‘Small UAS’ to six systems are being leased by the US Fox, which was developed under funding replace the Dragon Eye, and by US Spe- Marine Corps for use in Iraq and seven from the US Office of Naval Research as cial Forces to supersede the Pointer. The more are deployed on US Navy ships, a low-cost, relatively long-endurance sen- US Army’s FY09 request is for 504 based on a non-competitive contract sor platform, and was deployed to Iraq in Ravens costing $ 30 million, down from a awarded in 2004. 2003. It is rail-launched by a compressed peak of 702 air vehicles for $ 33.3 million At time of writing a competitive fol- air catapult (which is small enough to be in FY08. (The $ 45.8 million US Army low-on contract award by the US Navy is operated from an inflatable craft), and order placed in February 2008 includes awaited, the alternatives reportedly belly-landed in a small cleared area. The Ravens for the US Marine Corps). The being the AAI Aerosonde Mk 4, Aurora heavy fuel version has demonstrated an 5000th Raven has already been deliv- Flight Sciences Golden Eye 80 (the Gold- endurance of 21.5 hours. A total of 17 sys- ered, and at least 10,000 will be produced en Eye 100 is terminated), MTC Tech- tems with 54 air vehicles are planned for for the American services. nologies Spyhawk and Swift Engineering the US Navy, US Marine Corps, US Army Between the US Marine Corps’s Tier I Killer Bee. This new contract (again with and Socom. The Canadian Forces have 1.9-kg Raven-B and Tier III 170-kg Shad- contractor personnel operating the sys- acquired a Silver Fox system via Thales ow 200, Tier II is currently represented by tems) is expected to bridge the gap to the Systems Canada for evaluation under the the 17.2-kg Boeing/Insitu Scaneagle, US Marine Corps’s new Tier II, which the designation CU-167. which has a nominal endurance of 15 US Navy refers to as the Small Tactical The US Air Force employs the Desert hours, although 28.7 hours has been Unmanned Aerial System (Stuas) and is Hawk to protect its bases in Afghanistan. demonstrated. The Scaneagle is launched due for initial operational capability in The drone is built by Aeromech Engi- by a compressed-air catapult from a short FY11. The various competitors are dis- neering under licence from Lockheed rail and recovered by a patented Skyhook cussed below. Martin Skunk Works. Since 2002 a total of system, engaging a cable suspended from Australia’s 15-kg Aerosonde Mk 3 18 systems with 96 air vehicles have been a gantry with a tip-mounted claw. crossed the North Atlantic in 1988 in a delivered. It is also used by the British It appears that the only Scaneagle time of 27 hours burning less than six litres Army’s Royal Artillery in Afghanistan. systems so far purchased by the US serv- of fuel. The Mk 4 with winglets has demon- Britain has been testing the 4.5-kg Mis- ices are two owned by the US Air Force, strated an endurance of 38 hr 44 min, and sion Technologies Buster, which serves as with a total of 16 air vehicles. In addition, the Mk 4.4 has an enlarged fuselage to suit a tested for US Army sensors and is also operated by Socom. Illustrating the potential of small The shape of things drones, in early 2008 a 5.5-kg AV Puma to come? Successful (which was designed as a Pointer-replace- evaluation in Iraq ment) achieved an endurance of nine of the Honeywell hours (three times the figure with a stan- G-Mav (gasoline- dard battery) using a fuel cell/battery powered micro air hybrid system. vehicle) has led to America’s leader in the two-kilo class a US Navy order is now the RQ-11 Pathfinder Raven from for 186 production the same company. Following introduc- RQ-16A systems. tion of the RQ-11A as an interim solution (US Navy) to an urgent US Army requirement, the improved RQ-11B Raven-B attained IOC in 2006 and entered full-rate production in October 2007. The Raven can be remotely piloted, or fly completely autonomously, with an endurance of 1.5 hours. It is com- paratively cheap and – being constructed of Kevlar – is able to survive an average of 200 belly landings. The Raven-B is also used by the British, Danish and Italian Armies and has been adopted by the US Marine

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Weather. Predicting it is an We help you own the weather! AUVSI Unmanned Systems N.A. advantage to any military • EMI/RFI hardened June10-12, San Diego, CA / Booth 2122 operation; ignoring it can be • Low power (50 mA/12VDC) fatal. Climatronics’ TACMET II • Integral flux-gate compass man-portable weather station • Air temperature, relative provides accurate, real time, humidity, and pressure on-site weather data in • Wind speed and direction support of tactical unmanned • In service with all branches system operations. of the US Military www.climatronics.com/uav increased payloads. The US Navy’s Office of Naval Research has purchased several The Fire Scout has Aerosondes, and the type is also being test- been chosen as the ed by Nasa and the US Air Force. Class IV drone The Goldeneye 80 is an 82-kg ducted- component of the fan vtol air vehicle with wings that are US Army’s Future free-floating in incidence and allow tran- Combat Systems. sition to conventional flight. It has an (Northrop HFE, and an endurance of eight hours. It Grumman) first flew in November 2006, and is regarded as Aurora Flight Sciences’ ‘third-generation’ ducted fan drone, following the Goldeneye 100 of 2003 and the smaller Goldeneye 50 of 2005. The 39-kg Spyhawk is a derivative of the Arturus T-16, with a Honda GX-57 piston engine. An unusual feature is a retractable ventral-mounted sensor turret (by Optical Alchemy). In November 2006 MTC Technologies was awarded a twelve- Complete Guide month concept demonstration contract by the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory US Army sidered sufficiently promising to pursue to provide an air vehicle (XMQ-17A) to development of a heavy fuel derivative of serve as a testbed for new technologies, The US Army’s Future Combat System the G-Mav, possibly using a unit by RCV and to assist in developing new tactics and (FCS) was originally to include four Engines. Initial operational capability is procedures. However, in January 2008 classes of drones, but in 2007 it was decid- planned for 2015. MTC announced that it was negotiating a ed to defer Classes II and III. Following a In a surprise move, in January 2008 the cancellation agreement. It is anticipated $ 40 million Darpa technology demon- US Navy announced the intention to buy that by mid-2008 BAE Systems will have stration contract in 2003, in May 2006 186 two-drone RQ-16A systems with 93 taken over the company. Boeing and SAIC (joint FCS lead sys- ground stations for delivery between June Swift Engineering, having earlier tems integrator) awarded Honeywell the and November 2008, evidently expanding worked with Northrop Grumman on its $ 61 million development contract for the the service’s EOD mission in Iraq. Killer Bee drone, has since July 2007 been RQ-16A Class I platoon-level drone, a At the upper end of the FCS drone teamed with Raytheon. The 62-kg Killer ducted-fan vtol device. scale, the US Army’s Class IV is to be the Bee is a flying wing design (for increased In January 2008, Boeing and SAIC 1430-kg Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire volume), with a pusher propeller and announced an accelerated test schedule Scout helicopter, which is based on the downturned winglets. It is rail-launched for the Class I, requiring delivery over the Schweizer 333 and first flew in late 2006. and recovers into a net. Maximum following six months of eleven Block 0 The MQ-8B has also been selected as the endurance is 15 hours. prototype drones. This followed evalua- US Navy’s Vtuav, and nine aircraft have Suggested warloads for the Killer Bee tion in Iraq of around 20 examples of the been ordered for trials, with deliveries include a Rippel Effect M32 six-shot 40- 8.4-kg Honeywell micro air vehicle (cur- running from November 2007 to the end mm grenade launcher, a green laser (pre- rently referred to as G-Mav, denoting the of 2008. IOC is scheduled for early 2009. sumably for dazzling the enemy) and the use of gasoline) by a US Navy-led joint The US Army programme alone is worth American Technology Lrad-500 long- explosive ordnance disposal group. For- 560 drones, with IOC around 2014. The US range acoustic device. The latter was ward speeds up to 130 km/h have been Coast Guard is considering a radar- selected in May 2007 by the US Army and achieved, but the G-Mav is operationally equipped development of the MQ-8B as a Navy as their hailing and warning device restricted to 93 km/h by software limita- substitute for the Bell Eagle Eye tilt-rotor, for small vehicles and boats. Aside from tions. Endurance is only 30 minutes which the service abandoned in 2007. providing clear communication to 500 (against 50 required) and vtol is subject The MQ-8B is powered by a Rolls- metres it can generate noise beyond the to a maximum wind speed of 28 km/h. Royce 250-C20W turbo-shaft, and equip- pain level. However, these trials are evidently con- ment fit includes a Flir Systems Brite Star II thermal imager. Maximum endurance is eight hours, and a four-aircraft system can provide continuous 24-hour operation. Shipboard atols have already been demonstrated.

Micro The most important development in the micro air vehicle (Mav) category is the 454-gm AV Wasp III, another fruit of Darpa funding. The lithium-ion battery also serves as the structure for the 72.4-cm span wing. An endurance of 107 minutes has been demonstrated, but a more typical figure is 45 minutes. In late 2006 the US Air Force selected the Wasp III for its Batmav (Battlefield Air Target- ing Mav), and in January 2008 authorised full-rate production, leading to the procurement of 314 systems. Developed with Lockheed Martin in view of the Bams programme, the General In November 2007 the US Marine Atomics Mariner has also been evaluated by Australia as a possible anti-smuggling Corps placed a $ 19.3 million order for observation platform on the North-West Shelf. (General Atomics) Wasps to complement the larger Raven.

14 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 The service plans to acquire 21 systems tated by a vtol version, studies of which User criticism led to an improved ver- and about 80 drones. Since late 2005 tri- are being jointly funded by AV and sion, now marketed by ARA as the 725- als of the Wasp’s suitability for jungle Darpa. Concepts under consideration gram Nighthawk. The Nighthawk has Actionable information in real time operations have been run jointly by include tilt-rotors, buried fans and a tail- folding propeller blades and a carbon- Darpa and Singapore’s Defence Science sitter configuration. fibre wing (increased to 66-cm span) that & Technology Agency. In 2004 the US Army’s Rapid Equip- wraps around the fuselage for transport. The US Navy and US Marine Corps ping Force acquired six Applied The drone is stored in a tube of 15.25-cm are using the USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) Research Associates (ARA) Tacmav sys- diameter, and the wing snaps back to to evaluate the water-landing version of tems for evaluation, and subsequently flight position as it is pulled out of the the Wasp, which is 50 grams heavier. Mar- purchased 78 under a $ three billion pro- tube. It has a ceiling of 11,000 ft, and an itime operations would clearly be facili- gramme for use in Afghanistan and Iraq. endurance of up to 90 minutes.

industry can still thrive, selling advanced Non-American systems free of political strings. Heron TP: The top of the Israel Aero- space Industries/Malat range is now the 4650-kg Heron TP or Eitan (Strength), which is powered by an unspecified 895- kW turboprop. In the same weight cate- Complete Guide gory as the General Atomics Reaper, it has more power and wingspan. It carries a 1000-kg payload at up to 45,000 ft and has an endurance of 36 hours. Hermes 1500: Before the Heron TP, the heaviest Israeli drone was the 1650-kg Elbit Systems Hermes 1500 powered by two 75-kW Rotax engines. It has an Only current rival to the MQ-9 endurance of 26 hours and a ceiling of 33,000 ft. The 1200-kg IAI Heron I has an Reaper is the IAI Heron TP 85-kW Rotax, an endurance of 45 hours and a ceiling of 30,000 ft. The Heron I is operated by the Israeli Air Force under In the non-American league of drone manufacturers, Israel’s (who incidentally the names Machatz (Strike) and Shoval offered a stepping stone to America by supplying the first Hunters through TRW) (Trail), presumably in different roles. Two Shovals have recently been equipped with take the lion’s share, although a number of other nations have put their foot in maritime surveillance sensors to replace the door, especially during the former-Yugoslavia conflict. crewed IAI Seascans (modified Westwind bizjets). The Heron is flown by all three Indian services, the Turkish Army and the mongst the first European manu- systems. However, some nations are French Army (as the Eads Sidm). facturers to have entered the unwilling to buy military equipment from Hermes 900: The 970-kg Rotax-engined A observation drone market were the United States, hence Israel’s drone Hermes 900 is the latest member of Elbit Sagem with the Crecerelle (itself based on a Meggitt target drone) and EMT with the Luna. Since, other manufacturers have joined the dance, like Thales, Ruag (with Israeli-based airframes), BAE Sys- + = tems (lately with the Herti), Selex, Actionable Information Actionable Intelligence Actionable Knowledge Galileo, Saab and Schiebel to name but a few. Given the large range of drones that this nation alone can supply, we shall begin the second section of this survey with Israel.

Israel The development and operation of tactical drones was pioneered by Israel, This recent photograph of an IAI Heron I shows it camouflaged light blue on the Knowledge to act. Warﬁghters need access to accurate information and intelligence to gain operational although America was soon to achieve undersurfaces and painted white on top, presumably to reduce the heating produced dominance in larger and more expensive by solar radiation. (IAI) advantage. Raytheon’s extensive domain expertise and technical innovation combine to deliver complete situational awareness. Our fully integrated persistent surveillance solutions gather and disseminate actionable Systems’ Male family, featuring an ‘inde- information globally, in real time. Without delay. Without compromise. pendent’ atol system that allows it to use alternate non-instrumented runways. Unveiled at the 2007 Paris Air Show, the Hermes 900 was to fly in the first quarter of 2008. Near-term potential markets include Canada. Hermes 450: The 550-kg Elbit Hermes 450 is the first drone certified to fly in Israeli www.raytheon.com The 970-kg Elbit Systems Hermes 900 is a larger, retractable-gear, mid-wing derivative civil airspace. It has been operated under of the 550-kg Hermes 450. Unveiled at the Paris Air Show in 2007 it was to fly in the name Zik by the Israel Defense Force early 2008. (Elbit) since 2000 and is reported to have been © 2008 Raytheon Company. All rights reserved. “Customer Success Is Our Mission” is a registered trademark of Raytheon Company. 22 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 The service plans to acquire 21 systems tated by a vtol version, studies of which User criticism led to an improved ver- and about 80 drones. Since late 2005 tri- are being jointly funded by AV and sion, now marketed by ARA as the 725- als of the Wasp’s suitability for jungle Darpa. Concepts under consideration gram Nighthawk. The Nighthawk has Actionable information in real time operations have been run jointly by include tilt-rotors, buried fans and a tail- folding propeller blades and a carbon- Darpa and Singapore’s Defence Science sitter configuration. fibre wing (increased to 66-cm span) that & Technology Agency. In 2004 the US Army’s Rapid Equip- wraps around the fuselage for transport. The US Navy and US Marine Corps ping Force acquired six Applied The drone is stored in a tube of 15.25-cm are using the USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) Research Associates (ARA) Tacmav sys- diameter, and the wing snaps back to to evaluate the water-landing version of tems for evaluation, and subsequently flight position as it is pulled out of the the Wasp, which is 50 grams heavier. Mar- purchased 78 under a $ three billion pro- tube. It has a ceiling of 11,000 ft, and an itime operations would clearly be facili- gramme for use in Afghanistan and Iraq. endurance of up to 90 minutes.

300 kg Day/IR/elint Flir, colour TV TV and IR, 0.45 kg TV and flir Colour camera, 200 kg not A160T Hummingbird 24.0+ Camcopter S-100 6.00 Falco 14.0 Heron 50.0 MAV RQ-16A 0.70 Pioneer 6.50 Seeker II 10.0 Sky-X na Sar, /comint laser custom Sony FCB- (IAI Tamam, multi-sensor, defined 10.67 3.09 5.20 rangefinder 8.60 (IAI Tamam) 0.40 IX11A E/O 4.24 Versatron) n/a electronic ~7.00 Athena EO/IR 10.97 30.0 3.40 18.0 7.20 na 16.61 30.0 0.33 10.5 DRS E3500 IR 5.12 15.0 7.00 18.0 survey ~6.00 30.0 GuideStar 311 cameras nav. & ref. 1x 1x 55 hp 0.74 1x Rotax 2-stroke 1x 27 hp 1x 4-cyl n/a 1 turbine n/a ~0.80 75 hp 0.85 n/a 0.37 n/a system 572 hp Diamond 914 3W Sachs 2-stroke 2540 200 AR682 350 1100 6.80 210 280 1100 P&WC 115 hp engine SF2-350 50 hp Frontier Systems-Boeing PW207D vtol Schiebel vtol Selex Galileo conv-cat/conv IAI Malat conv/conv Honeywell 4 hp vtol IAI-AAI conv, rato/conv Denel conv/conv + arrestor Alenia conv/conv 8 kg 60 kg EO/IR, laser TV and IR, 0.50 kg 0.9 kg 35 kg CCD camera, Aerolight 4.00 Carapas 0.90 Fire Scout (RQ-8B) 8.00 Heron TP/Eitan 36.0 Mini-UAV 1.00+ Pointer 1.00 Sentry 6.00 Sojka 2.00 hi-resolution designator, custom TV or CCD camera Various IR 2.56 CCD or 4.07 Eads passive 7.01 SAR, GMTI, 14.00 (IAI Tamam, 1.05 flir Photon, 1.80 or IR 2.57 3.81 (various 4.00 10.0 night camera 2.30 40.0 esm-elint, 8.22 20.0 Radar 26.00 45.0 various) 1.50 low gas sensors 2.70 0.6+ 1.90 10.0 4.08 7.00 manufacturers) 1x 16 daN stabilised e-o 1x R-R 245 kg 1x ~0.50 8 hp 0.40 n/a n/a 1200 hp n/a ~0.10 1x n/a 1x n/a 2-cyl Microturbo and infrared 250- 300W (type P&WC electric 2-stroke 2-stroke 40 TRS 18-1 750 C20W 1430 4650 3-4 3.60 150 145 undis- PT6-67A type n/a 28 hp 29.5 hp tf Aeronautics closed) cat/parafoil Eads-Galileo cat+rato/para Northrop Grumman vtol IAI Malat conv/conv Patria hand/belly AV (AeroVironment) hand/belly DRS Technologies conv/conv-para VTULaSTV cat/pata Cots EO Day Sigint, MP Rtip TV and IR TV or flir/elint EO, IR, Sar 27.3 kg 50 kg Sagem Aerosky 5.00+ Carolo P50 0.30 Global Hawk (RQ-4A Block 10) 28.0 Hunter MQ-5B 20.5 Mirach 20 4.00+ Predator A MQ-1 24.0+ Shadow 200 RQ-7B 6.00+ Sperwer B 12.0 (manufacturer 0.47 plus extra (IAI Tamam) (Meteor) 8.23 (Northrop Tamam EO/IR 3.50 410 TV, n/a not 14.53 power 7.01 3.60 Grumman, 3.75 Athena Sagem Matis 4.48 15.0 determined) 0.49 na 65.0 unit/Sar, EO, 10.44 18.0 4.15 12.0 14.84 25.0 Wescam) 4.27 15.0 GuideStar 6.20 20.0 (3-5µ) or 39.90 IR, Satcom 211e Iris(-12µ) n/a (type n/a 2x 57 hp 1x 26 hp 1.22 1x Rotax n/a 1x 70 hp 1x R-R n/a 0.34 0.34 nav. & ref. + weapons undis- 1.46 dual 914 1x UEL 2-stroke 70.31 AE3007 14628 885 170 1043 170 system 350 (Spike) closed) 0.53 115 hp AR 741 Israel Aerospace Industries conv/conv Mavionics-Eads hand/belly Northrop Grumman conv/conv Northrop Grumman conv/conv Selex Galileo rato/para General Atomics conv/conv AAI 38 hp conv-cat-rato/para Sagem cat/para 5 kg various R/C (NAI) Satcom + EO, IR or Sar TV, LLTV, flir, Eo, IR, Sar 30 kg 50 kg Aerosonde Mk 4 30.0 Changhong IC 0.75 Global Hawk (RQ-4B Block 20) 36.0 I-Gnat 23.0 Mirach 26 7.00 Predator B 30.0+ Shadow 400 5.00 Sperwer/Ugglan 8.00 stabilised EO/IR Sar, EO, IR (Wescam) elint (General EO/IR (various Sagem Olosp 8.47 13.41 10.36 3.51 2.10 BLOS imagery 7.01 3.78 (various Atomics, 5.00 manufacturers) 15.0 meteo sensors 7.53 na 35.35 65.0 40.0 13.0 manufacturers) 20.12 50.0 Wescam) 12.0 4.21 17.0 2.90 10.44 4.72 3.82 H-Type 0.58 1x WP6 1x R-R 1x Rotax 1x 28 hp 1x Ase 1x 70 hp n/a 1.46 n/a 1x UEL n/a 24 cc AE3007 0.76 914 0.37 TPE331- n/a 2-stroke 15.20 12111 200 4536 AR 741 201 250 EFI 2450 H tf 635 10T 38 hp AAI-Aerosonde hand/belly People’s Republic of China acft/para Northrop Grumman conv/conv General Atomics conv/conv Selex Galileo rato/para General Atomics tp conv/conv AAI conv/conv Sagem cat/para 200 kg Infrared line 450 kg Flir, TV, TV, IR, EW, Sar Day/IR Micro-flir, Day or IR, Aerostar 14.0 CL-289 Piver 125 Global Observer GO-2 Fuel 168+ I-Gnat-ER Warrior Alpha 30.0 Mirach 150 1.30 R90 0.50 Shadow 600 12.0+ Tracker (Drac) 2.00 4.50 stabilised 3.51 scanner 8.00 Lynx Sar, 4.69 (various 5.18 CCTV (various 1.40 1.8 kg EO 25.4 Ku Satcom manufacturers) 1.42 manufacturers) 6.50 18.0 1.37 2.00 65.0 17.00 25.0 2.10 30.0 2.56 7.47 17.0 3.60 6.50 78.94 cell 1x ~0.50 Zanzottera 0.40 1x n/a 1x Rotax 0.37 ~0.25 1x Enics 0.46 ~0.10 1x BMW n/a Micro- 1x UEL 2-piston 8 motors 914F turbo M44D electric 200 RR T117 240 4127 1043 345 AR 801 265 7.50 490ia 115 hp TRS 18- pulse jet +s/b Aeronautics 38 hp conv/conv Bombardier-Eads rato/para AV (AeroVironment) conv/conv General Atomics conv/conv Selex Galileo 1 tj rato/para Enics rato/expend AAI 50 hp conv-cat-rato/para Eads hand/belly Day or IR -1A recon or Day TV, flir 30 kg 50 kg IR EO/IR sensor Day/night TV, IR, Aladin 0.75 D-1A SR Gnat-750 (Tier I) 40.0 I-View 250 8.00 Muas 14.0 Ranger 5.00 Shmel Yak-61 (Bumblebee) 2.00 Tu-243 (VR-3 Reys-D) na 4.00 weather (Wescam) Mosp EO and TV (IAI Tamam) imager radiation 0.60 1.75 4.10 4.00 2.77 8.21 sample 5.49 or 4.60 (various detection 1.46 low 3.28 na -1D geophys. 20.0 7.10 20.0 EL/M-2055B 6.00 20.0 14.8 3.26 10.0 manufacturers) 2.26 17.0 survey 10.67 Sar 5.70 n/a 1x n/a QA400, 1x Rotax ~0.25 (type n/a n/a 1x n/a (type n/a 1x electric 37cc 0.76 582 undis- n/a Goebler- undis- Izotov ~3.0 25.0 513 250 200 129 1397 2.5 hp closed) Hirth 274 closed) TR-3- EMT hand/belly Dara Aviation car-top/conv General Atomics conv/conv IAI Malat cat/para Irkut conv/conv Ruag 38 hp cat/conv Yakovlev Design Bureau cat/conv Tupolev ANTK 117 tj rato/para Stabilised Colour day Day/IR 1 kg Laser designator, IR or TV or IR/EO 2.7 kg Optronic day Apid 55 6.00 Desert Hawk 2.50 GoldenEye 80 1.00 Killer Bee KB4 15.0 Neptune RQ-15 Raven RQ-11 Silver Fox 10.0 Vulture 3.00 electro-optical or IR Athena TV, IR, 4.00 9 kg 1.50 colour/CCD sight (M-Tek) 0.70 1.91 2.13 1.04 1.46 3.20 0.82 GuideStar payload 10 kg droppable cameras, flir 3.11 9.00 1.00 1.40 5.00 111m 3.05 10.0 1.83 8.00 1.31 14.0 2.38 16.0 5.21 16.0 3.3 dia 1.31 nav. & ref. 2-stroke n/a n/a 15 hp n/a 1x 15 hp 0.10 1x 4-cycle 1x TTL- system, IR, Flir n/a 0.70 n/a 2-piston n/a 2-stroke Aveox 27 JP5 or Wae 105 3.20 11.0 74 36.3 1.82 9.1 125 55 hp FP8 342 CybAero vtol Lockheed Martin cat/belly Aurora Flight Sciences vtol Swift Engineering-Raytheon cat/conv DRS Technologies cat/belly, para AV (AeroVironment) hand/belly ACR cat/para ATE cat/para E-O Day TV EO, IR, laser Flir Radar, IR 340 kg internal, 25 kg, Video + IR Aqua Puma 2.50 Dragon Eye RQ-14A 1.00 Hermes 180 10.0 KZO 3.50 Neuron n/a Reaper MQ-9 24.0 Skeldar V-150 Wasp 1.00 designator, (Rheinmetall + 1360 kg ext. n/a types not yet 1.73 4.43 2.26 9.30 10.36 0.28 1.80 GMTI Defence guided bombs AN/APY-8 Sar, 4.00 defined 2.50 1.16 1.00 6.00 15.0 UK: Athena 3.41 11.5 Electronics) 12.5 35.0 in 2 internal 20.12 50.0 EO/IR turret, 3.30 11.0 0.40 10.0 2.59 GuideStar 411 bays AN/AAS-52(V) 600 W n/a 2xAveox ~0.50 1x UEL 1x 30 hp n/a TPE331- 2-stroke nav. & ref. 0.37 n/a 1x Adour MTS n/a n/a n/a 1005/6Y 38 hp Schrick 10T 2-piston 2.04 system 161 ~6000 4763 150 0.32 6.35 195 SF2-350S Dem 900 hp 55 hp conv, cat/ AV (AeroVironment) hand/belly AV (AeroVironment) hand/belly Elbit para,ab,conv Rheinmetall rato/para Neuron conv/conv General Atomics conv/conv Saab vtol AV (AeroVironment) hand/belly 200 kg 250 kg EO Tesar Sar, DSP CCD camera Flir, ESM, IR, Day or IR Day or IR 2040 kg Bateleur 24.0 Eagle 1 24.0 Hermes 450 20.0 Luna X-2000 4.00 Nibbio 0.90 RemoEye 006 1.50+ Skylark X-47B (Ucas-D) 40.0+ Denel Argos or or EW EO, compass (various TV, ECM 60 kg 2.00 EO/IR/Sar/ ~10.0 Goshawk/ 4.00 6.10 flir and CCD 2.26 manufacturers) 4.07 1.55 2.20 11.58 GMTI/ESM/IO 15.0 25.0 Avitronics elint 16.3 25.0 10.52 20.0 4.24 10.0 Athena Guide- 2.30 40 2.72 na 5.50 6.00 18.90 40.0+ or Sar Star 311 ~0.80 1x Rotax n/a 1x Rotax 0.52 1x UEL n/a 2-cyl 2-s 0.40 Micro- ~0.12 ~0.15 n/a P&W 914 or AR-80- nav. & ref. turbo 914 6.70 hp F100 20.865 Subaru 1000 1150 1010 449 29.9 system TRS18-1 740 6.00 na Dem Denel EA-82T conv/conv Eads-IAI Malat conv/conv Elbit 52 hp conv/conv EMT cat/para Selex Galileo tf cat/para Ucon hand/belly Elbit Systems hand/belly Northrop Grumman conv/conv Project for ~500 kg EO, EM, TV, Sar Internal 363 IR, Sar, Day or IR 8 kg Yabhon-M Day/IR Bekas 5.00 Eagle 2 24.0 Hermes 1500 24.0 Mariner 49.0+ Night Intruder 300 6.00 RemoEye 015 4.00 Skylark II 5.00 30.0 target recce EW or Sar (various 10.97 kg, external payload 45 kg stabilised EO 2.97 (imaging 13.0 (based on 9.39 manufacturers) 1361 kg 4.70 1.80 n/a not defined 4.30 3.20 ~15.0 infrared) and 22.0 45.0 Heron TP, 15.0 25.0 26.21 52.0 various 6.40 15.0 3.20 na 4.2 15.0 5.70 na RF jamming development not yet n/a 1x 2x Rotax n/a 1x Ase 50 hp ~0.20 n/a 1x 60 hp n/a on back-burner) ~1.00 n/a ~0.30 defined 1200 hp 914, TPE331- ME 684 250 3600 1496 4763 15.0 35 330 ~ P&WC 100 hp 10T 290 Granit-NPO Mash. conv/conv+para Eads-IAI Malat PT6A-67A conv/conv Elbit conv/conv General Atomics tp conv/conv KAI cat/para + conv Ucon conv/conv Elbit Systems cat ATS conv/conv Day or IR Flir Safire III + Max. 1.2 kg Stabilised day CCD camera EO, Bird Eye 400 1.00 Eagle Eye 8.00 Orbiter ScanEagle 15.0 Skylite-B 1.50 Yarara 6.00 Telephonics 1.50 or IR payload 5 kg 0.80 5.46 endurance 1.00 1.19 1.25 2.47 RDR-1700B Drone Name Length Sensor * hi-resolution [hours] Where no information is given, 2.20 n/a 4.63 20.0 radar wingspan packages, in either the information was not 2.20 2.00 CCD from 3.05 16.0 2.40 low 3.98 10.0 Controp n/a many cases max altitude 1x 1.5 hp n/a 0.76 1x payload ** made available or it has not been ~0.35 brushless 0.18 0.12 1x n/a 6 hp P&WC bay maximum turbine [feet x 1000] 2-stroke electric 5.60 1290 decided for that specific portion 650 18.0 6.40 30 200-55 Dem sensor payload or t-prop piston Wankel all sizes Electric take-off weight of the system. Dem signifies the IAI Malat hand or cat/belly Bell Helicopter Textron stovl in meters weight engine engine engine Aeronautics hand/belly Boeing cat/cable Rafael tube/belly Nostromo Defense conv/conv motor *** [kilograms] drone is a demonstrator. 1.3 kg, IR Sigint, Elint, Manufacturer Drone specificationslaunch/recovery TV or LLTV or TV and flir 363 kg internal, 1 kg Buster 4+ Euro Hawk 30+ Pchela 1 2.00 Searcher II 16.0 Sky Warrior MQ-1C 40.0 Zala 421-12 2.00 14.53 Comint, elint 5.85 (IAI Tamam) 8.53 227kg external 0.62 GPS, EO 1.04 Satcom, Sar Powerplant abbreviations Launch/Recovery abbreviations 2.77 AN/APY-8 Sar, 1.24 ~10.0 39.90 60.0 MTI (Imint) 3.26 1x 8.20 8.56 19.0 17.07 25.0 EO/IR turret 1.2 10.0 2-s 2-stroke elec electric engine tf turbo fan conv conventional rato rocket-assisted take off n/a 1.46 1x R-R 0.30 Samana n/a 1x 73 hp n/a Thielert n/a AE3007H hp horsepower gas gasoline engine tj turbo jet cat catapult hand hand launched /Trud diesel 6.35 14,628 130 426 1450 3.9 tp turboprop s/b solid booster pj pulse jet para parachute vtol vertical take-off and landing P-032 135 hp Mission Technologies hand or cat/belly Eads-Northrop Grumman conv/conv Rx Rotax engine -cyl -cylinder belly belly landing stovl short T/O vertical landing Yakovlev Design Bureau 32 hp cat/conv IAI Malat conv/conv General Atomics conv/conv A Level Aerosystems cat/para

18 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 19 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 20 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 21 Complete Guide 2008 Unmanned Aircraft armada©

18 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 19 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 20 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 21 The service plans to acquire 21 systems tated by a vtol version, studies of which User criticism led to an improved ver- and about 80 drones. Since late 2005 tri- are being jointly funded by AV and sion, now marketed by ARA as the 725- als of the Wasp’s suitability for jungle Darpa. Concepts under consideration gram Nighthawk. The Nighthawk has Actionable information in real time operations have been run jointly by include tilt-rotors, buried fans and a tail- folding propeller blades and a carbon- Darpa and Singapore’s Defence Science sitter configuration. fibre wing (increased to 66-cm span) that & Technology Agency. In 2004 the US Army’s Rapid Equip- wraps around the fuselage for transport. The US Navy and US Marine Corps ping Force acquired six Applied The drone is stored in a tube of 15.25-cm are using the USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) Research Associates (ARA) Tacmav sys- diameter, and the wing snaps back to to evaluate the water-landing version of tems for evaluation, and subsequently flight position as it is pulled out of the the Wasp, which is 50 grams heavier. Mar- purchased 78 under a $ three billion pro- tube. It has a ceiling of 11,000 ft, and an itime operations would clearly be facili- gramme for use in Afghanistan and Iraq. endurance of up to 90 minutes.

Maintain Situational Awareness OAI Meets the Needs of the Warﬁ ghter with Ultra Light, Geo-Referenced EO/IR Imagers for UAV and UGV Applications

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5147 South Harvard Ave, Suite 138 • Tulsa, OK 74135 • Phone: 918-493-1643 • Fax 918-493-6234 www.cyberaerospace.com ed by South Korea. It is rail-launched and This impression of recovered by parachute and airbag. the British Army’s Skylite B: The eight-kg, rail-launched Thales Watch- Rafael Skylite-B is believed to have been keeper shows some used over Lebanon in 2006, operated by differences from the contractor personnel. In the hand- Elbit Hermes 450: launched category, the six-kg Aeronau- the shoulder- tics Defense Systems Orbiter has been mounted wing, ordered by Ireland, Poland and an undis- retractable nose closed CIS nation. The 5.5-kg Elbit Sky- gear and twin lark I was used on a small scale by Israeli sensor turrets. ground forces in Lebanon in 2006, but the (Thales UK) service is reportedly also considering the Skylite-B and the 5.6-kg IAI Bird Eye 400 in selecting a future mini-drone. The Skylark is also operated by the armies of Australia, Canada and Sweden. Other drones of around five kg include the ITL used as a missile platform over the Aerostar is used by the Israel Defense Optronics Lightener and Top-I-View Lebanon in 2006 to give a quick reaction Force and has been sold in small numbers Casper 250. Complete Guide to rocket launches. Other customers to the US Navy, Angola and Nigeria. The The Israel Defense Force is develop- include Botswana and Singapore. canard-configuration 180-kg Emit Blue ing a requirement for an unmanned com- The Hermes 450-B forms the basis for Horizon 2 has been used by the Sri bat resupply and medevac system. Rele- the British Army’s Thales Watchkeeper Lankan Air Force, two being lost in a vant projects include a new IAI system, with UAV Tactical Systems (a Tamil Tiger attack in late 2007. helicopter, the 450-kg Emit Butterfly joint venture by Elbit and Thales UK) as Mini-Falcon: In the 50 to 100-kg category powered parachute with a Rotax 582 prime. Watchkeeper is scheduled for IOC Israel offers the 80-kg Innocon Mini-Fal- engine and the Urban Aeronautics with the Royal Artillery in 2010, fitted with the Thales Magic atol system, the I- Master radar and Elop Compass IV EO/IR turret. Modifications from the Hermes 450 include a shoulder wing- mounting, a retractable nose gear and wing de-icing. A number of standard ‘H- 450’ drones owned by Thales UK have been leased under a $ 110 million contract as an interim measure for use by 32 Regiment Royal Artillery in southern Afghanistan and Iraq. In early 2008 Elbit unveiled its uprated 52-kW R902(W) engine for the Hermes 450. Searcher II: The 425-kg IAI Searcher II, The parasol-wing, fixed-gear Hermes 450 entered service with the Israel Defense Force equipped with Elta EL/M-2055 radar, is in 2000. It has also been purchased by Botswana and Singapore, and has been being phased out of Israeli Air Force leased by the British Army. (Elbit) service in favour of the Heron I, but it has been exported to India, Indonesia, Singa- con, the 65-kg IAI I-View 50, the 45-kg ‘Mule’ powered by two Turbomeca Arriel pore and Spain. The Spanish Army was Emit Sparrow and the 43-kg Elbit Sky- engines driving ducted fans. due to deploy its Searcher IIs to lark II. The Blade armed version of the Afghanistan in April 2008. Sparrow has been purchased by the Upper End I-View: The 250-kg IAI I-View 250A has British Army, reportedly linked to devel- been selected by the Australian Army, opment of a loitering attack weapon con- Soar Dragon: At the upper end of the spec- with deliveries to begin in 2009. The cept. The Skylark II, a relatively heavy trum – and outside Israel – the only poten- 210-kg Aeronautics Defense Systems electric-powered drone, has been adopt- tial near-term competitor for the Global Hawk appears to be China’s Cheng- du/Guizhou Soar Dragon, which may be Selected by the running ahead of the Mitsubishi and Ale- Israel Defense nia Aeronautica Molynx Hale projects. Force in 2004, the Oddly enough, the development of these Elbit Systems appears to be more advanced than Russian Skylark has since projects announced much earlier, notably been adopted by the Sukhoi Zond 1, 2 and 3. the armies of Molynx: The 3000-kg Alenia Aeronautica Australia, Canada Molynx has two 186-kW car engines and and Sweden. The is designed for an endurance of 30 hours Canadian Skylark at up to 45,000 ft. It may produce useful is used in experience for the Alenia Black Lynx, a Afghanistan. tailless armed Male project. (Canadian Forces) Barracuda: The Eads Barracuda technology demonstrator crashed in 2006, but it is hoped to develop from this (in a joint Franco-German-Spanish programme) a modular twin-turbofan type. With long- span wings this will serve in the Male role. With short wings it will be a high-speed penetrator, like the smaller 360-kg Selex

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Email :[email protected], Fax Reply to (62-21) 8650963 armd-08 [email protected] $ www.indodefence.com www.indoaerospace.com experience in real operations, in addition The Eads Modular to the flying hours notched up in military Advanced UAV will consist exercises. However, the company has of a single 10.3-metre now developed a new version of its air- backbone fuselage cum craft, which is available for purchase, engine and tail unit to according to official Sagem literature. which 25.25-metre span The new aircraft will «incorporate sever- wings can be fitted for al improvements based on feedback from 46,000-ft altitude missions. the field and the latest technologies». Endurance would be Known as the Sperwer Mk II, the new around 17 hours. The drone picks up from where the original ’canopy bay‘ would left off, and features a host of modifica- receive a Ku-band satellite tions. For example, Sagem has obtained a aerial. The shorter set of significant reduction in logistics require- wings (about nine meters) ments and hence easier deployment in will provide high-speed foreign theatres of operation. At present, low altitude (1000 ft) dash it takes around two C-130 flights to transmissions. (Eads) port an entire Sperwer system, which includes three aircraft, a ground control station, a catapult and a ground data ter- Complete Guide Galileo Nibbio based on the Meteor AS Aero Design in Poland and powered minal. 100/5 target, which presumably also by a Rotax 914 engine. Still few details The Mk II model will have a greatly forms the basis for the Eads Carapas are divulged regarding the payloads, but enhanced operating envelope in terms of demonstrator. the aircraft is able to detect people walk- altitude and temperature, although as yet Modular Advanced UAV: Unveiled at the ing across a border between two coun- no figures are available on what these 2007 Paris Air Show, the Eads Advanced tries, fly a surveillance pattern at 80 knots improvements may constitute. Moreover, Modular UAV design has recently moved at 9000 ft using its fixed electro-optical Sagem will enhance the electro-optical a step forward in its development, having sensor, then switch to a higher-resolution payload by installing new state-of-the-art been awarded a € 60 million contract by turreted sensor upon which these are systems. The company is also looking at the German Government to cover its confirmed by a ground operator. how the drone’s datalinks can be made share in a 15-month study conducted with Sperwer Mk II: Following on from recent compatible with Nato command and con- France (Thales) and Spain (Indra). As deployments in Afghanistan and the trol structures via the French Army’s reported in Armada 2/2008 and clearly Balkans, Sagem is turning its sights Rapid Reaction Corps. This unit has been seen on our current cover, the system is towards the future for the Sperwer drone. raised as a quick response partner for the modular at various levels. Not the least Purchased by the Canadian, French, Alliance’s Rapid Reaction Force. aspect is the ability to tailor cut the air- Dutch, Swedish, Danish (later aban- Night Intruder: Following its 290-kg craft’s wings to enable it to carry out doned) and Canadian armed forces, this Night Intruder 300 drone for the South high-speed penetration missions with ‘Sparrow hawk’ (the drone’s name trans- Korean Army and Navy, Korea Aero- shorter wings, or above-male missions lated from French) has become the stan- space Industries (KAI) is developing the with long-span wings, the wings being dard unmanned aerial vehicle for several 6500-kg turboprop-engined Kus-9, which totally interchangeable. Likewise, the Nato members. is heavier than the MQ-9. underbelly and ’cockpit‘ payloads will be Sagem notes that the combat hours Yabhon: In a much smaller category, the interchangeable, the whole idea being to racked up to date by the drone have Abu Dhabi-based Adcom Military achieve a plug-and-play concept enabling already given the company tangible Industries flew its new Yabhon RX-6 tac- an aircraft to be configured within any- thing between 30 minutes to a couple of hours. The aircraft will be powered by A successful programme, two external rear-mounted engines. the Sagem Sperwer has Herti: As remarked in his Dubai Show seen extensive deployment report (Issue 2/2008), Armada’s Editor in former Yugoslavia and highlighted the fact that, «the Herti is now in Afghanistan. The pretty much a unique system, which French manufacturer is brings the word ‘unmanned’, somewhat now looking into the abusively used in the drone community, development of a Mk II slightly closer to a certain truth», since it with extender range and a not only has the ability to fly totally sharper electro-optical autonomously without transmitting or sensor. (Armada/EHB) receiving to remain as ’quiet‘ as possible, but also to judge, select the required sensors depending on the requirement of the moment and identify points of interest without any commands from the ground and then send bursts of data only when necessary. As manufacturer BAE Sys- tems puts it, it is «task driven» and remains fully autonomous except for the first click on the mouse to get it started, as explained by a company official. Developed under a cloak of secrecy in Australia under the codename «Morrig- an», first signs of its existence appeared in 2006 through press releases, but tangible proof was given at Dubai 2007 with one of two prototypes exhibited. It is based on a motor-glider design from J &

26 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 Complete Guide by Urban Warfare

Issue 4/2008

᭤ Vehicles ᭤ Drones This Complete Guide ᭤ Robots covers the needs of the ᭤ Weapons urban commandos ᭤ Communication ᭤ Equipment The on-the-ground guide to enhancing YOUR exposure!

Special distribution at: Advertising deadline 27 June 2008 AAD, South Africa Ad material deadline 2 July 2008 Defendory, Athens, Greece Issue date 25 July 2008 funding development of the turbofan- powered Jandu, a joint project by ADI and Western Australia’s Global UAV Organisation. Notwithstanding its undoubted techno- logical capability and its many advanced drone concepts (including the Sukhoi BAS-62 and Zond series), Russia has so far made little impact on this market. In the last century the Soviets were best known for jet-powered reconnaissance drones, notably the 35.6-tonne, Mach 2.5 Tupolev Tu-123/139 Jastreb (Hawk), which was superseded by the manned MiG-25, and the 5370-kg high- subsonic Tu-141 Stritzh (Swift), of which 152 were built. The 1230-kg Tu-143 Reys (Trip) was used by the Soviet forces in Afghanistan, Russia’s principal hand-launch drones appear to belong to the A-Level Aerosystems and by Syria over Israel. It was also sold Complete Guide Zala 421 family. The 2.1-kg Zala 421-08 is used by the Interior Ministry, and this to the Czech Republic and Romania. The 421-04 weighs up to 7.9 kg. (A-Level Aerosystems) stretched 1600-kg Tu-243 Reys-D entered service in 1999 and is available tical drone in September 2006, to serve as Aeronautical Academy has a Project through Rosoboronexport. The latest the basis for the 1250-kg Yabhon RX-18 Vantapa, based on its X-02 air vehicle. known version is the Tu-300 Korshun. Male, now in development. Brazil’s air force is purchasing the locally More recently the emphasis has been Tiha: Turkish Aerospace Industries is developed three-kg Flight Solutions on providing target data for artillery developing the 1500-kg Tiha-A, which is FS-01 Watchdog. rockets, notably the 40-km-range Grad, to fly in 2009 and provide a basis for the Other hand-launched drones in the with further development aimed at the much larger (3500 kg) Tiha-B, to meet a three-kg category include France’s Tech- 80-km Smerch, likewise made by Splav. It Turkish Air Force requirement. Other nisolar Seni, Germany’s EMT Aladin and may be noted that at Idex 2005 Splav TAI drone projects include the 85-kg South Africa’s ATE Kiwit (Plover). exhibited the R-90 tandem-wing sensor- Gozcu and the Tuma target. Malaysia’s Sapura has exhibited its equipped drone that can be launched ten-hour endurance Cyber Eye and the from a Smerch tube. Mid-weight Cyber Shark helicopter drone. At the The Kulon Stroy-P system based on recent air show at Langkawi a joint ven- the Yakovlev Pchela-1T (TV-only) was Falco: In the mid-weight category, the new ture by Composite Technology Research used operationally over Chechnya in 420-kg Selex Galileo Falco (reportedly Malaysia, Ikramatic and System Consul- 1995 before it attained formal IOC with sold to Pakistan) aims to follow the success tancy Services showed its MX-05 Aludra the Russian Army in 1997. One system of the 310-kg Sagem Sperwer, the 280-kg drone, which had just made its first flight with twelve drones had previously been Denel Seeker and the 275-kg Oerlikon in Malacca. supplied to North Korea. The Pchela-1K Contraves/Ruag Aerospace Ranger. Singapore Technologies Aerospace with day/night capability followed with Harop: Rheinmetall is now working with has produced the hand-launched, piston- the Stroy-PD, now in production. The IAI on a system that would combine the engined Skyblade II for the Singaporean shorter range Kulon Stroy-BP is based on KZO with a loitering munition – presum- Army, developed the electrically pow- the 25-kg Osa air vehicle. ably the new Harop, which has an EO sen- ered Skyblade III and is working on the In 2005 the Vega group, including the sor – a 23-kg warhead and an endurance of much heavier (50 kg) Skyblade IV. The Kulon Scientific Production Institute in six hours. The IAI Harop, which is cur- latter has been partly funded by the Sin- Moscow and KB Luch in Rybinsk, was rently being evaluated in India and gapore Ministry of Defence,and is due to given the lead in further Russian drone Turkey, is a larger derivative of the 135-kg fly around the end of 2008. developments. Luch is developing the IAI Harpy, which has been sold to China, Australia’s DSTO (Defence Science very conventional 60-kg BLA-05 Tipchak India, South Korea and Turkey. and Technology Organisation) is now artillery reconnaissance drone, which has Ababil and Mohajer: Iran has at least two drone manufacturers. Iran Aircraft Man- ufacturing Industries (Hesa) makes alu- minium airframes in Shahinshehr, and Qods makes composite airframes in Tehran. Hesa’s 200-kg Ababil (Swallow) has been in production since 1986 and is used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and by Hezbollah in Lebanon, as is Qods’ 85-kg Mohajer-2 (reportedly under the name Mirsad-1). Qods also produces the 60-kg Saegheh-2. The Toufan is an anti-radiation attack drone, like the IAI Harpy. Latin American developments are evi- denced by Mexico’s 54-kg Hydra Tech- nologies S4 Ehécatl (Wind), which first flew in 2006 and made its debut in Paris in 2007. Argentina’s Nostromo Defensa is The Selex Galileo Falco was cleared following 18 flight tests made by the end user reported to be in small-scale production (believed to be Pakistan) during which it carried out a surveillance mission at with the 30-kg Yarará, and is scheduled to maximum payload which lasted 9 hours and 15 minutes, demonstrating, by using an unveil the electrically powered 3.5-kg auxiliary fuel tank, maximum endurance could exceed the 14 hour mark earlier Carbure 2 at Fidae-2008. Chile’s air force anticipated. (Selex Galileo)

28 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008

the military designation 9M62 and appears to aimed at supporting the 300- km Iskander rocket. The first state test series was concluded in late 2006. Also funded by the Russian Ministry of Defence, the Luch BLA-07 is a 35-kg canard-configuration with a shrouded pusher propeller. The 500-kg Kulon BLA-06 Aist is an unusual design with a retractable undercarriage, a V-tail, and two piston engines on over-wing pylons. Although ordered by the Russian Min- istry of Defence in 2005 it is also intended for commercial use. At ParcAberporth, Wales in 2007 Rus- sia’s A-Level Aerosystems demonstrated the 2.1-kg Zala 421-08, as used by Rus- sia’s Ministry of Interior Affairs. The company also makes the somewhat larger Zala 421-04, which weighs 6.95 kg Complete Guide The writing is on the door: the letters stencilled on this G-Wagen gives a clue as to in electric form and 7.9 kg with a piston which theatre of operations this EMT Luna is being deployed from. (EMT) engine.

The age-old struggle to convert a heli- The Verticals copter into an aeroplane in flight is illus- trated (inter alia) by Spain’s Hada (Heli- copter Adaptive Aircraft) project, part of the Platino national drone research programme. Partly funded by Spain, the 380- kg Hada will take off like a conventional two-blade helicopter, then for forward flight the rotor will be fixed fore-and-aft, while a six-metre wing is unfolded from under the fuselage. Thrust is provided by a tail-mounted pusher propeller. One of many ducted-fan vtol concepts, the Selex Damselfly follows the well- proven Harrier/Pegasus four-nozzle thrust-vectoring arrangement. An electrically powered small-scale model flew in April 2007, paving the way for a 100-kg full-scale Damselfly in 2009. The Damselfly may compete for an The Schiebel Camcopter anticipated Royal Navy order against the S-100 during recent trials MQ-8B and Austria’s 200-kg Schiebel Camcopter S-100, which is being marketed in co-operation with Thales. More than 100 S-100s have been ordered by three countries. Following trial on frigates in March, The ideal of usefully sized drones that can be operated without runways or cat- Schiebel announced in mid-April 2008 apults, and can be recovered safely without nets or parachutes, is encouraging that the S-100 had been tested in conjunc- widespread interest in advanced helicopters and other vtol concepts. tion with a much smaller vessel, namely the Guardia Civil’s 51-metre Rio Miño off the

ne of the most advanced is the 2540-kg Boeing A160T Humming- O bird, powered by a 425-kW Pratt & Whitney Canada PW207D turbo-shaft. With the A160T it is hoped to achieve a 30,000 ft ceiling and an endurance of over 18 hours, this by virtue of a patented Opti- mum Speed Rotor (OSR), a clean airframe and a high fuel fraction. The OSR reduces the rotational speed of the blades in forward flight, to delay com- pressibility effects on the advancing tip and inboard stalling on the retreating blade. A piston-engined A160 flew in 2002, having been developed by Frontier Systems, which was taken over by Boeing in 2004. June 2007 marked the first flight by the turbine-engined A160T, the first Unlike tail-sitter ducted fan projects, the Selex Galileo Damselfly is a flat-riser using of ten being built for Darpa and the US four rotating nozzles (as in the Rolls-Royce Pegasus), with the aft nozzles raised to Special Operations Command. avoid interaction of the jets. (Selex)

30 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 Complete Guide by Mobility Air, Sea, Land

Issue 5/2008

᭤ Airlifters ᭤ Naval transports Moving the good guys ᭤ Vehicles and their gear from A to B ᭤ Landing craft through surf, turf or skies ᭤ Utility helos ᭤ Logistics A complete solution to maintain mobile exposure of YOUR message! Special distribution at: AUSA, Wash, DC, USA Advertising deadline 22 Aug 2008 Euronaval, France Ad material deadline 27 Aug 2008 IndoDefence, Indonesia Issue date 19 Sep 2008 coasts of Grand Canaria. A former tuna trawler, the Rio Miño was converted to a coastal patrol ship with, inter alia, a 10.5 ϫ 8.5-meter helipad sans landing grid (which would have facilitated operations since the S-100 can be fitted with a harpoon decking system. According to the Austrian manufacturer the S-100 took off on a one-hour mission, spotted a Spanish Armada frigate from a range of about ten nautical miles, returned to the hosting ‘mother ship’ and displayed its capability to hover above the helipad and follow the ship’s heaving and sinking motion to perform a smooth touchdown. In the tests mentioned above, the S-100 was operated from a Pakistan Navy Type 21 frigate in the Arabian Sea. The weather allowed takeoffs and landings The Boeing A160T Hummingbird is a turbine-engined development of the piston- at a maximum ship speed of 13 kt with 15- engined A160 designed by Frontier Systems. It is hoped to produce a breakthrough in kt crosswinds. rotorcraft speed, ceiling and endurance. (Boeing) Complete Guide (part of Defence & Security Systems) of the earlier Seamos. The Sharc first flew in July 2007. The Orka, for its part, is a joint drone development by Eads’ Eurocopter division and Hélicoptères Guimbal, based on the latter’s two-seat Cabri. The Orka is being offered to both the French Army and Navy.

Sweden’s 160-kg Cybaero Apid 55 is in service in the United Arab Emirates. It provides the basis for the new Saab Skeldar-150, which has a modified airframe and a variety of sensors. (Cybaero)

A four-hour mission was carried out, Apid 55 systems were sold to the United the S-100 taking off from the helipad in Arab Emirates in 2004. The Skeldar first daylight and landing at night. The tests flew in April 2006, but for naval applica- were concluded by another night flight tions a Skeldar M is being developed. with a total flight time about six hours at Cybaero is now working with the US a maximum altitude of 6000 ft. Naval Research Laboratory on the lat- Depending on the timescale, other ter’s new 172-kg Vantage drone, which drone helicopter contenders for the flew in early 2008, powered by a 31-kW In 2005 an agreement was signed by Royal Navy order may be the Saab Skel- UEL 801 rotary heavy fuel engine. Eurocopter and Guimbal, paving the dar V-150 M and the Eads Sharc or Orka. The 190-kg Sharc (Scouting and Hunt- way for the latter’s two-seat Cabri The Skeldar is a derivative of Sweden’s ing Autonomous RotorCraft) has a coax- helicopter to be developed as the Orka Cybaero Apid 55, a 160-kg drone pow- ial rotor, and represents a further devel- drone, aimed initially at an anticipated ered by a 41-kW Wankel engine. Seven opment by Eads Military Air Systems French requirement. (Eads).

simulate an anti-radiation missile. Selex Targets and Decoys Galileo is likewise developing the 20-kg Locusta target, to be released from a 330- kg Meteor 100/5. Another in the Do-DT25 class appears to be the 150-kg Iris Jet, developed by the Greece-based Eads 3 Sigma, which produces a wide range of targets. Spain’s Inta has its own Diana project, with a similar payload capacity. The Cali- fornia-based Xcelaero is developing the 80-kg NXT-400, with two model jet Eads DO-DT25 carrying a engines. Air Affairs Australia is promot- rocket-powered DO-DT55 ing the Phoenix Jet, equipped with an AMT engine. The Beijing-based Black Buzzard Avi- The well-established targets produced by companies such as Meggitt Defence Sys- ation Technology has exhibited the 45-kg tems, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Selex Galileo require no introduction. single-engined HFT-40A and the 90-kg HFT-60A twin, both powered by the indigenous VWP-60. et engines developed for aero mod- 50-kg Do-DT35 and 70-kg Do-DT45 One of the main thrusts of future ellers are making possible small high- twins. All are in production for the Ger- developments appears to be on low-cost J speed targets such as Eads-Dornier’s man Army and Navy. The 22-kg Do- targets to simulate anti-ship missiles: single-engined 144-kg Do-DT25 and the DT55 is launched from the Do-DT25 to high-subsonic weapons such as the

32 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 Complete Guide Turning to decoys, the 135-kg swing- The swing-wing Raytheon wing Raytheon AGM-160B Miniature AGM-160B Mald Air-Launched Decoy (Mald) successfully (Miniature Air-Launched completed flight testing in January 2008, Decoy) has a range of and is set to enter Lrip. It has a range of 925 km and been cleared 925 km, and will be launched from the B- for use on the Lockheed 52 and F-16. Martin F-16 (shown here) and the Boeing B-52. (Raytheon)

MBDA Exocet, and Russia’s supersonic The US Navy also has a requirement SS-N-22 and -27. for a high-subsonic target, which is being The US Navy has an emerging need competed by the Northrop Grumman for a Multi-Stage Supersonic Target BQM-74F and the Orbital Sciences BQM- (Msst) to simulate ‘Threat D’, thought to 167X, a development of the BQM-167A be the Novator 3M54E (SS-N-27). This Skeeter used by the US Air Force. cruises subsonically, but in the terminal In the full-scale target category the US phase detaches a sea-skimming super- Air Force’s QF-4 is expected to be replaced sonic penetrator. Although the Mach 2.3 by the QF-16, with the contract to be Orbital Sciences GQM-163 Coyote awarded competitively in April 2009. (which received the first US Navy pro- Little has been published on Russian The use of a drone to launch mini- duction order in late 2007) can represent targets, beyond the fact that Sokol began targets is represented by this 330-kg Threats A, B and C, it evidently cannot production of the turbofan-powered, 280- Meteor Mirach 100/5, carrying two cruise subsonically for 170 km and reach kg Dan in 1993. The Dan-Baruk search- 20-kg Selex Galileo Locustas, as used Mach 2.2 at a height of 16 ft. The Msst and-attack variant with KBP Vikhr anti- to test German Air Force Patriot SDD award is due in late FY08. armour missiles has been proposed. missiles. (Selex Galileo) Combat Drones

Dramatic montage of the Northrop Grumman X-47 on its future home: a ﬂight deck

The ideal of usefully sized drones that can be operated without runways or cat- human value aspect, but through the apults, and can be recovered safely without nets or parachutes, is encouraging lengthy training process end up costing widespread interest in advanced helicopters and other vtol concepts. more than the machine they fly. America’s Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-Ucas) programme was ter- urning drones into light bombers One often overlooks what are the minated in FY07 after the expenditure of was an obvious step in the recent his- implications of having one or several crew $ 800 million. Out of the ashes came the T tory of drone development. Howev- members onboard an aircraft in terms of US Navy’s Ucas-D demonstrator, paving er, the creation of ’proper‘ strike aircraft, weight, cost and volume taken away; just a the way for a stealthy ‘F/A-XX’ Ucas to by removing not only the crew but also all few items: avionics, ejection seat, obogs, replace the Boeing F/A-18 in 2025. the items that go with them is a far more canopy, controls. The comes the crew In August 2007 Northrop Grumman ambitious undertaking. itself, which without even looking at the was awarded the $ 650 million Ucas-D

armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 33 In contrast, China’s Shenyang Anjian (Invisible Sword), which was shown in model form at Zhuhai in 2007, is a supersonic configuration allegedly intended for the air-to-air role. Europe’s principal Ucas effort is the Dassault-led, six-tonne Neuron, for which France’s DGA signed a € 405 million contract in 2006, and which is to have its maiden flight in 2011. Others involved include Alenia Aeronautica, Hellenic Aerospace Industries, Ruag Aerospace, Saab Aerosystems and Thales. National efforts include Britain’s BAE Systems eight-tonne Taranis (to fly in 2010), Italy’s 1300-kg Alenia Aero- nautica Sky-X, Russia’s Yakovlev Proryv A wind tunnel test model of the Neuron is here seen being put through its paces at (Breakthrough) and the lightweight Onera’s facilties in France. As for its American counterpart, low radar signature is a Voron as well as Sweden’s Saab Aerosys- mission prerequisite. (Dassault) tems Filur. Complete Guide contract to construct two X-47Bs. The Sperwer first is scheduled to fly in November Sagem is working on a 2009, and the first carrier operations in late 2011. Derived from the X-47A tested in J-Ucas, the X-47B has wing extensions and a non-afterburning Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220U turbofan. It has a designed launch weight of 20,200 kg and a maximum landing weight of 10,567 kg. Russian Ucas thinking appears to be following similar (though land-based) lines, aiming for a subsonic stealthy Sead drone. At Maks 2007 RAC-MiG unveiled its tailless Skat (Skate) in mock-up form. Paving the way for the US Navy’s next strike aircraft, Northrop Grumman’s unmanned, The Skat is a ten-tonne vehicle with a subsonic X-47B demonstrator will rely heavily on its low radar signature, shown here Klimov RD-5000B engine. under test. (Northrop Grumman)

aviation spirit generally acquired at light Brains and Eyes aviation club level by pushing an aircraft out of a hanger to start with. Some footage of army soldiers unloading drones from a lorry clearly show that they wouldn’t handle wings in such a manner, for example, if they had to board the aircraft themselves. This has only recently

Sagem is working on a hi-res Euroﬂir sensor

Manning a drone from the ground is easy, but on paper only. What the people behind the controls really lack is not only the pants-and-seat feeling, but also the environmental assessment. We tend to forget the incredible benefits we get from stereoscopic vision and the incredibly fast and automatic ability of the eye and brain to adjust or focus on a point of interest. The Tacmet II, from Climatronics, is seen here used in conjunction with a Eric H. Biass failure, drones more often crash for two PDA. The solid-state Tacmet II can also main reasons: bad handling and loss of be used on a tripod to provide a environmental reference. nearby mobile control station for wind, xcept for unbelievably irresponsible Bad handling is a common occurrence, temperature, relative humidity and designs (and yet some made it to this because the ground crews are rarely barometric pressure data. E active service level) and mechanical aviators themselves and often lack the (Climatronics)

34 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 Complete Guide bilised systems have emerged and include Innosuisse has Cloud Cap and Optical Alchemy. developed a pilot Flir Systems is probably the largest helmet called producer of stabilised mounts due to the Peyelot to help the fact that it also manufactures stabilised operator to virtually turrets for fixed and vehicle-mounted land slide into the skin of surveillance applications. During the last a drone. Linked to DSA exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, the the ground control company told the author that there were system, the helmet 65 Flir systems operated in Malaysia alone is equipped with a and approximately 200 in the region. In display and the fact, Flir is now aiming at opening a main- onboard camera is tenance centre in Malaysia and is current- slaved to the ly looking for partners. helmet’s One of Flir’s latest systems is the Star movements. Safhire HD, where the HD suffix stands (Innossuisse) for high definition. The sensor is not interleaved and thus offers a true 720-line picture while most other so-called high- been corrected with adequate training to gyros, magnetometer, air pressure data definition devices do not offer 1080 lines seed the ’this is an aeroplane‘ notion. sensors and meets shock, vibration, tem- but in fact 420. Even the smallest aero clubs either perature and humidity requirements – all Another recent Flir development is have their own weather station or at least in a case that is about the size of a the Mep (Mission Equipment Package) a direct link to one. Meteorology is part portable telephone for a weight of 114 of which a first batch of three has been and parcel of flight safety. Several com- grams, which also happens to be the delivered to the US Army’s Night Vision panies offer ’met‘ kits, like Climatronics, weight of the authors cell phone. When and Electronic Sensors Directorate. The that provide wind, temperature and pres- one is in the flight instrumentation and system has been integrated into the sure data (see picture herewith). avionics business and in need of widening Directorate’s UH-1 test helicopter, but is Turning to drone attitude control, and one's range of activities, a short cut in a first stage aimed at the US Army’s particularly those that are flown beyond method is to acquire a drone avionics Tier II drone programme. The Mep incor- the pilot’s range of view, one must not manufacturer. This is exactly what Rock- porates no less than five sensors: two forget that their ’flyability‘ depends on a well Collins did earlier this year (2008). infrared cameras, a colour television cam- number of sensors that not only con- Other drone autopilots manufacturers era, a laser rangefinder and a laser desig- stantly correct the aircraft’s attitude include Cloud Cap with its Piccolo series, nator. A key feature of the system is its (straight and level) but also altitude. This UAV Navigation and Micropilot. secondary steering system that provides a is very important as thermals and down- Drone capabilities are almost propor- drafts may not change their attitude or tional with their size (for systems of a heading but dramatically alter their same generation of course). The farther height above the ground without the pilot they need to go, the more fuel they have to immediately noticing the change. Head- carry, the bigger the engine, the larger the ing is now usually provided by satellite airframe volume and the more accurate navigation receivers. This is the reason the navigation systems need to be. Thus, at why ground control stations are usually the opposite end of Athena’s spectrum of manned by a pilot and sensor operator. products is the 4.5-kilo Guidestar 611 with One of the major players in the field of a 0.003°/hour inertial measuring unit. navigation and control systems is Athena. Microstrain is another producer with the The company offers a wide range of prod- 3DM-GX2 and the Inertia-Link. An autopilot is a boring to look at as ucts. One that probably best provides a Quite apart from a new tend to use its capabilities are fascinating. This yardstick to the state of the art is the Gus. drones as radio relays (an interesting AP04 unit is from UAV Navigation This unit packs accelerometers, rate development using hand-held radios is (who also supplies to the Red Bull Air explained in “The Hand-held Uprising” Race), and is capable of fully article in the main issue of Armada with automatic takeoff, flight plan following which this supplement has been and landing. (UAV Navigation) despatched) drones also need to commu- nicate. This too has opened up a new field co-operative wide field-of-view (WFOV) of specialisation to cope with range, size and narrow field-of-view (NFOV). The and weight requirements of datalinks. WFOV IR is mounted on an internal gim- Typical suppliers here are firms like bal. This scheme significantly enhances Microhard Systems, Free-wave and the operator’s situational awareness by Advanced Microwave Products. allowing the WFOV IR to be pointed sep- arately from the other four sensors. The Eyes and Ears WFOV IR is used to detect potential targets of interest and the NFOV IR with its The primary electronic system of a drone is improved range performance is used to its optical sensor. Depending on the type; identify, track and designate the targets. from mini drones all the way up to the male The Mep thus supports simultaneous types, the range covers simple miniature acquisition and tracking in both the wide black-and-white pen-sized cameras (avail- and narrow fields of view. able in video shops) to the large, multiple- Elbit’s Compass IV is now becoming The Star Safire HD uses a 3-5µm 640 ϫ channel, fully-stabilised turret. the company’s optical payload flagship, 512 InSb focal plane array to provide a The largest players in stabilised systems being installed on the Hermes 450. This true resolution of 1280 ϫ 720. It also are Flir, Elbit, Denel, DRS (which was carries a third-generation 3-5µm 320 ϫ packs a similar resolution colour about to be bought up by Finmeccanica at 256 infrared camera, a colour or black- camera, laser rangefinder, illuminator the time of writing) and Sagem, but new- and-white television camera, an eye-safe and pointer. (Flir Systems) comers providing smaller and lighter sta- 1.54µm laser rangefinder with minimum

armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008 35 developed to offer maximum capability The Compass IV is for drones with limited payload capacity. Elbit’s top-of-the- An Optical Alchemy official explained, range gimballed «Unfortunately, most gimballed systems sensor for drone address providing the warfighter imagery applications. It of the target of interest, but do a poor job weighs 38 kilos of getting co-ordinates (i.e. locations of and is here seen the target). OAI [Optical Alchemy] pay- under a Hermes loads have been designed from the 450 from the same ground up to be provide both imagery of company. (Elbit) the targets (ISR) as well as high accuracy targeting information (Fires support)/ (location of targets). This is accomplished by having the sensor fully geo-referenced with the ability to slew to co-ordinates and maximum operational ranges of 100 evision camera and can optionally carry a instantly. This is the big difference and 2000 metres respectively, a diode- night camera a laser target illuminator or between existing payloads and OAI pay- pumped 1.064µm, 80 mJ/pulse laser target an eye-safe laser rangefinder. loads as well as the fact that we do this in designator and a night vision-compatible Sagem has recently released news that 1/10 weight of existing systems». The 2.3- ten-kilometre range laser target illumina- is so fresh that little is known of the kilo KJ600 carries an 8-12µm infrared Complete Guide tor which, with all the gimbals and turret Euroflir that the company is developing. sensor, daylight camera and a laser mark- put together, tips the scales at 38 kilos. Basically the new infrared sensor, destined er. The larger 5.9-kilo KJ800 is still at lab- The Emos from the same company weighs less than 6.5 kilos but carries an 8- 12µm infrared sensor and day colour tel- Seen here under the Raytheon experimental Cobra, the KJ600 has also been tested in the Swift Killer Bee, the Arcturus T-16 and the Snow Goose. (Optical Alchemy)

In a sphere of only 12.7 cm Cloud Cap’s latest offering is the Tase Duo, for the longer-range Mk II version of the oratory development stage and adds a which houses a Flir Systems Photon Sperwer, is to offer a higher resolution. laser rangefinder. sensor and a Sony day camera. It only In total contrast in terms of size and Turning to radars, particulary those weighs 1060 grams. (Cloud Cap) weight, Optical Alchemy’s KJ600 is being able to provide synthetic aperture, invert- ed synthetic aperture and moving target Index to Advertisers indicator modes, recent articles in Arma- da International have extensively AAI 3 Matrix Composites 13 described state-of-the-art systems, partic- Armada International 27, 31 Meggitt Defence Systems 7 ularly from Elbit and General Atomics. AV (Aerovironment) 11 MMIST 13 Joining the band is now Thales UK with Climatronics 13 Northrop Grumman 29, C2 the 30 km Coastmaster, officially Cyber Aerospace 23 Optical Alchemy 23 announced in September 2007. The coast- Elbit Systems C3 Raytheon 15–17, C4 master is targeting a potential require- Honeywell 9 Tactical Electronics 25 ment for counter-piracy capabilities as it is, according to Thales UK, suited for the IAI 5 Wavecom Elektronik 25 detection of small and fast-moving tar- IndoDefence 2008 25 gets on land or offshore. a

Volume 32, Issue No. 3, June/July 2008 France USA – Special Reports Promotion et Motivation, Odile Orbec, 21, Boulevard du Parc, Gene Selven, 7291 Coronado Drive, Suite 8, INTERNATIONAL FR-92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine. Phone : (+33 1) 41 43 83 00, San Jose, CA 95129. Phone: (408) 996 7400, is published bi-monthly in Zurich, Switzerland. e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] Copyright 2008 by Internationale Armada AG, United Kingdom All other countries: contact the Head Office Aeulestrasse 5, LI-9490 Vaduz, Liechtenstein. Armada International, Hagenholzstrasse 65, CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland. e-mail: [email protected]. www.armada.ch Head Office: Armada International, Annual subscription rates: Hagenholzstrasse 65, CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland. Phone: (+41) 44 308 50 50, Fax: (+41) 44 308 50 55, Europe: CHF 186. + 36. (postage) Overseas: USD 186. + 36. (postage) Phone: (+41) 44 308 50 50, Fax:(+41) 44 308 50 55, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) e-mail: [email protected]; Laguk Co. Ltd., Yuri Laskin, Krasnokholmskay nab., 11/15, www.armadainternational.com www.armada.ch app. 132, RU-115172 Moscow. Phone: (+7 495) 912 13 46, Controlled circulation: 21,605, certified by Publisher: Caroline Schwegler e-mail: [email protected] ABC ABC/WEMF, valid from autumn 2007. Publishing Director: Peter Stierlin Spain Editor-in-Chief: Eric H. Biass Vía Exclusivas, Macarena Fdez. de Grado, Modesto Lafuente, Printed by Karl Schwegler AG, 8050 Zurich/Switzerland Editor/Artwork: Johnny Keggler 4-4° Izda; ES-28010 Madrid. Phone: (+34 91) 448 76 22, ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:1996 certified Administration: Thomas Schneider, Marie-Louise Huber e-mail: [email protected] Armada International, ISSN 0252-9793, is published bi-monthly by Internationale Armada AG and is dis- Regular Contributors: Roy Braybrook, Mark Huntiller, Eastern USA – East of the Mississippi River Ian Kemp, Doug Richardson, Thomas Withington tributed in the USA by SPP, 95 Aberdeen Road, Emigsville Margie Brown, 4775 Mallard Court, PA 17318-0437. Periodicals postage paid at Emigsville, PA. Warrenton, VA 20187-2500. Phone: (540) 341 7581, Advertising Sales Offices e-mail: [email protected] POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Austria, Germany, Nordic Countries, Switzerland Armada International, c/o PO Box 437, Emigsville, PA Cornelius W. Bontje, Holzwiesstrasse 35, CH-8645 Jona. Western USA – West of the Mississippi River 17318-0437. Phone: (+41 55) 216 17 81, Diane Obright, 810 Val Sereno Drive, Olivenhain, CA 92024. e-mail: [email protected] Phone: (858) 759 3557, e-mail: [email protected] ISSN: 0252-9793 USPS 574450

36 armada INTERNATIONAL 3/2008

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