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Compendium<br />
by<br />
Drones<br />
Europe Wakens to Males<br />
INTERNATIONAL: The trusted source for defence technology information since 1976
©2010 northrop Grumman corporation<br />
see.<br />
Know.<br />
Act.<br />
www.northropgrumman.com/ums<br />
AIR FORCE. NAVY. ARMY. MARINE CORps. COAsT GUARD. ONE FORCE.<br />
The future of warfare lies in one force — a force that can see, know, and act first. From ISR to<br />
command and control to action, Northrop Grumman is in every domain critical to modern warfare.<br />
All forces are connected. Faster, smarter, and more efficient. In a word, seamless.
INTERNATIONAL: The trusted source for defence technology information since 1976<br />
Europe Wakens<br />
to Males<br />
The Elbit Hermes 900 has recently been<br />
ordered by the Israel Defense Forces<br />
Drones are the most upwardly dynamic aerospace sector, with growth rates that<br />
manufacturers of traditional aircraft can only dream of. The Pentagon’s FY11<br />
budget request for drones is only 7.4% of the aircraft total, but this represents<br />
a solid $ 4.1 billion. The Teal Group’s 2010 market study estimates the current<br />
worldwide expenditure on unmanned air vehicles at $ 4.9 billion.<br />
Eric H. Biass<br />
and Roy Braybrook<br />
Progress is being made across a broad<br />
spectrum of drone-relevant technologies,<br />
from stealthy airframes to<br />
low Reynolds Number (less than 15,000)<br />
aerodynamics, flapping wings, slowed<br />
helicopter rotors, ducted fans, foliagepenetrating<br />
radars, fuel cells and heavy<br />
fuel engines.<br />
Expanding Capabilities<br />
Aside from providing ISR (intelligence,<br />
surveillance and reconnaissance) and target<br />
facilities, drones are already<br />
employed in roles such as electronic and<br />
counter-mine warfare and (in the form of<br />
GPS-guided parafoils) for front-line<br />
resupply. Requirements are being developed<br />
for casualty evacuation by drones<br />
and for cargo deliveries by (self-recovering)<br />
unmanned helicopters.<br />
Tests using General Atomics MQ-9<br />
Reapers are investigating the prospects for<br />
such air vehicles detecting and tracking<br />
cruise and ballistic missiles, through triangulated<br />
infrared sensing. The development<br />
of the Ucav (unmanned combat air vehicle)<br />
is this year being advanced significantly,<br />
as the US Navy’s Northrop Grumman<br />
X-47B or Ucas-D makes its maiden flight,<br />
with carrier trials scheduled for 2012.<br />
Other important new operational concepts<br />
include the aerial refuelling of<br />
drones, which Boeing hopes to explore<br />
with the X-45C Phantom Ray, due to fly<br />
before the end of 2010. The US Air Force<br />
plans to refuel future high-performance<br />
drones from existing tankers.<br />
In the long term, the US Air Force sees<br />
a family of large multi-role drones (MQ-<br />
L) with duties including tanking. The<br />
MQ-La of around 2020 will be primarily<br />
devoted to Sigint duties, with potential to<br />
replace Awacs and JStars. The later MQ-<br />
Lb will add transport and tanker roles.<br />
The MQ-Lc will take in global strike.<br />
Air and Sub Launches<br />
The launching of small ‘attritable’ drones<br />
from conventional aircraft and larger,<br />
more expensive drones is being evaluated.<br />
An early example of an air-launched<br />
small drone (AL-Suas) was the Naval<br />
Research Laboratory’s air-sampling<br />
Finder, tested from a General Atomics<br />
Predator in 2002. Another was the<br />
Raytheon Silenteyes, ejected from an<br />
Ale-50 towed decoy launcher on an MQ-<br />
9 during a test in 2004. More recently, in a<br />
demonstration for the US Army, a<br />
Northrop Grumman MQ-8B deployed<br />
ground robots.<br />
Originally developed by Advanced<br />
Ceramics Research (which has since<br />
been taken over by BAE Systems), the<br />
armada Compendium Drones 2010<br />
5.9-kg tandem-wing Coyote has recently<br />
been launched from the sonobuoy tube<br />
of a Lockheed Martin P-3. The Coyote is<br />
an electrically powered sensor platform<br />
with an endurance of 90 minutes.<br />
Boeing’s swing-wing Scaneagle Compressed<br />
Carriage (Secc), designed to be<br />
dropped from an aircraft such as the Boeing<br />
P-8A and to be slowed by ballute and<br />
parachute prior to wing extension, may<br />
also be developed to suit launch from a<br />
submarine’s Trident tubes.<br />
The US Army’s Boeing AH-64D<br />
Apache Block III will come with Level<br />
IV drone control, which excludes only the<br />
take-off and landing phases. This will<br />
allow the Apache to receive and transmit<br />
real-time drone imagery and metadata.<br />
In tests in late 2009, an Apache Block III<br />
controlled a Boeing AH-6 Little Bird acting<br />
as surrogate for the Army’s General<br />
Atomics MQ-1C Sky Warrior.<br />
Elbit Systems of America has recently<br />
been awarded a Navair contract to supply<br />
TVDL (Tactical Video Data Link) kits<br />
On the Cover<br />
Compendium<br />
by<br />
Drones<br />
Europe Wakens to Males<br />
Together with<br />
the Hermes<br />
900 seen in<br />
the title above,<br />
the Sagem<br />
Patroller featured<br />
on our cover is<br />
one of the few<br />
totally new major<br />
drone designs to<br />
have had its maiden<br />
flight since our last Drone Compendium<br />
in 2009. Watch the growth in<br />
the one-tonne Male drone category!<br />
1
Developed by Advanced Ceramics Research in Tucson, Arizona, which is now part of<br />
BAE Systems, the folding-wing Coyote has recently been test-launched from the<br />
sonobuoy tube of a P-3 Orion. (BAE Systems)<br />
for US Marine Corps Bell AH-1Ws. This<br />
allows crews to see live video from<br />
drones and retransmit it to other aircraft<br />
and ground forces.<br />
The US Army is studying the concept of<br />
several drone cargo helicopters being controlled<br />
from a manned utility helicopter. In<br />
strike missions the US Air Force, which<br />
refers to this as ‘loyal wingman technology’,<br />
may use Lockheed Martin F-35s supported<br />
by Ucav ‘weapon mules’.<br />
The US Air Force is developing the<br />
concept of ‘swarming’, in which a sole<br />
operator will be able to control a group of<br />
partially-autonomous drones, radiolinked<br />
to avoid collisions.<br />
In the micro-category, vtol drones are<br />
being developed to operate inside buildings.<br />
Bio-inspired drone ornithopters not<br />
only fly, but also crawl and ‘perch-andstare’<br />
to minimise battery use.<br />
gaining in popularity. Such services, pioneered<br />
with the Boeing/Insitu Scaneagle,<br />
are being continued with Canada’s MDA<br />
(MacDonald, Dettwiler & Associates)<br />
providing an Israel Aerospace Industries<br />
(IAI) Heron service in Afghanistan for<br />
both the Australian and Canadian forces<br />
(each of which will have two aircraft).<br />
At the recent Bahrain Air Show, Qinetiq<br />
promoted its ‘managed services’,<br />
which will provide and operate drones<br />
and produce processed mission data.<br />
AAI (an operating unit of Textron Systems)<br />
is expanding its fee-for-service<br />
drone operations with its Shadow and<br />
Aerosonde series.<br />
Many aerospace manufacturers are<br />
still scrambling to grab a slice of this rapidly<br />
growing pie, but one or two have<br />
decided there are too many snouts in the<br />
trough. In March 2010 Rafael announced<br />
that it would cease efforts to develop its<br />
own drones (notably the Skylite-B),<br />
although it would offer payloads for those<br />
of Aeronautics Defense Systems.<br />
Human Factor(s)<br />
Unmanned aircraft take a lot of people to<br />
operate them and make use of the information<br />
they provide. Britain’s Royal Air<br />
Force evidently requires 18 to 24 personnel<br />
to maintain one orbit continuously,<br />
aside from meteorological, administrative<br />
and other support elements. The US<br />
Air Force has a total of 140 to 160 personnel<br />
per Cap. That service plans to fly<br />
This IAI Heron is one<br />
of a pair operated in<br />
Afghanistan on behalf<br />
of the Royal Australian<br />
Air Force by<br />
MacDonald, Dettwiler<br />
& Associates, which<br />
also operates two for<br />
the Canadian Forces.<br />
(Royal Australian Air<br />
Force)<br />
Mixing the Genres<br />
Optionally manned derivatives of standard<br />
aircraft reduce developmental costs<br />
and risks and facilitate operation in civil<br />
airspace. The US Army is considering (in<br />
the longer term) converting substantial<br />
numbers of its utility and transport helicopters<br />
to optionally manned form. The<br />
Armed Aerial Scout, replacing the Army’s<br />
Bell OH-58, may reportedly `eventuate as<br />
a partially/wholly unmanned fleet.<br />
The idea of a civilian contractor providing<br />
a drone service in a combat area is<br />
Germany’s Bundeswehr is to be provided<br />
with a Heron service by Rheinmetall<br />
Defence, partnered with IAI.<br />
Thales UK’s ‘Istar By The Hour’ service<br />
for the British Army in Afghanistan<br />
(and formerly Iraq) employs companyowned<br />
Elbit Hermes 450s. Flight line<br />
service support is by personnel from U-<br />
Tacs (Uav-Tactical Systems), a Thales<br />
UK/Elbit joint venture.<br />
Scheduled to fly in<br />
April 2010, the<br />
Aerovironment Global<br />
Observer employs a<br />
fuel cell powered by<br />
liquid hydrogen. It is<br />
hoped to achieve an<br />
endurance of one<br />
week, cruising at<br />
60,000 ft.<br />
(Aerovironment)<br />
50 MQ-1/9 Caps by the end of fiscal year<br />
2011. It plans a ‘UAS community’ of nearly<br />
15,000, including 1650 pilots and 1440<br />
sensor operators.<br />
Efforts are being made to restrict<br />
manpower by having one ground control<br />
station provide Mac (multi-aircraft control)<br />
for the MQ-1/9 series. The automation<br />
of take-offs and landings is another<br />
growing trend, reducing not only operator<br />
skill demands, but also accident rates.<br />
The US Army’s fully automated MQ-1C<br />
is recording fewer landing mishaps than<br />
the US Air Force’s remotely piloted<br />
MQ-1A/B.<br />
In view of the large number of drones<br />
operating over southwest Asia, both the<br />
US Air Force and US Army have developed<br />
airborne sense-and-avoid (Absaa)<br />
systems. The overall trend is toward<br />
drones having greater autonomy.<br />
Humans cost lots of money and evidently<br />
make more mistakes.<br />
The following discussion reviews<br />
some of the principal unmanned aircraft<br />
developments, broadly in reducing order<br />
of size (tethered blimps are examined<br />
towards the end of this article).<br />
2 armada Compendium Drones 2010
791 hybrid demonstrator, which first flew<br />
in January 2006, and was expected to lead<br />
to the US Army’s Persius project, the illfated<br />
forerunner of the LEMV.<br />
Envisioned as a 76-metre hybrid, the<br />
LEMV prototype is required to carry an<br />
1135-kg/16-kW payload to a height of<br />
20,000 ft and remain there for three<br />
weeks. It is to be capable of a round trip<br />
of 4000 km, and to be optionally manned<br />
for self-deployment. Other requirements<br />
include a 37-km/h cruise, a 148-km/h<br />
dash and the capability to remain within<br />
One proposal for Darpa’s Vulture programme is the Aurora Flight Sciences Odysseus,<br />
which would take off as three separate modules, and could join together aloft to form<br />
a Z shape to optimise solar capture. (Aurora Flight Sciences)<br />
Airships<br />
At Farnborough in 2008 BAE Systems and<br />
Lindstrand Technologies announced a<br />
strategic partnership to develop the latter’s<br />
GA-22, which is currently radio controlled,<br />
but is planned to become fully<br />
autonomous. In 2004 Lindstrand supplied<br />
the Spanish Ministry of Defence with a<br />
GA-22, described as the world’s first fully<br />
combines a bi-lobe lifting body with four<br />
vectored-thrust ducted propellers. The<br />
concept also includes provision for a<br />
suck-down cushion to enhance stability<br />
on the ground.<br />
Following trials with a 15-metre technology<br />
demonstrator, the next stage is the<br />
high-altitude, ultra-long-endurance Condor<br />
unmanned surveillance platform<br />
series. The 45-metre Condor 204LG is<br />
functional airship drone, carrying a 42-kg<br />
classified surveillance payload. The GA-22<br />
can take a 150-kg payload to 6500 ft.<br />
Sanswire-Tao, a joint venture between<br />
America’s Sanswire and Germany’s Tao<br />
Technologies, is involved in the development<br />
of unmanned airships. These take<br />
the form of a patented sausage-like string<br />
of hinged modules, with vectored-thrust<br />
engines at the nose. The mid-altitude<br />
STS-111 (which first flew in Germany in<br />
December 2009) will pave the way for the<br />
75-metre Stratellite, designed to cruise at<br />
around 60,000 ft. This altitude is believed<br />
to give the optimum combination of radial<br />
coverage (with over 500 km to the horizon)<br />
and wind speed.<br />
Several manufacturers plan to exploit<br />
the potential of airships designed as lifting<br />
bodies. These hybrids are claimed to<br />
excel at medium altitudes, whereas pure<br />
LTA vehicles are better at high altitudes.<br />
Combined with thrust-vectoring, hybrids<br />
are also easier to launch and recover.<br />
Two British companies – Hybrid Air<br />
Vehicles and Condor Technologies – are<br />
co-operating on the Condor series, which<br />
The US Navy’s longrunning<br />
requirement<br />
for a stealthy strike<br />
aircraft may be<br />
advanced by carrier<br />
trials in 2012 of the<br />
Northrop Grumman<br />
X-47B, which is due<br />
to make its first flight<br />
by mid-2010. (US<br />
Navy)<br />
designed for an 1135-kg payload, and the<br />
111-metre Condor 404 for a 2270-kg load,<br />
to be operated at 40,000 ft.<br />
Hybrid Air Vehicles is expected to compete<br />
with Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works<br />
for a US Army prototype contract for the<br />
LEMV (Long-Endurance Multi-payload<br />
Vehicle) that is planned to fill the imagery<br />
and sigint gap between aerostats and satellites.<br />
Skunk Works produced the small P-<br />
armada Compendium Drones 2010<br />
The Northrop Grumman RQ-4N<br />
Global Hawk has been selected as the<br />
US Navy Broad Area Maritime<br />
Surveillance (Bams) drone. That service<br />
plans to buy six development and 62<br />
production aircraft. (Northrop<br />
Grumman)<br />
3.5 km of its nominal loiter position for at<br />
least 50% of the time.<br />
At the end of January 2010 the US<br />
Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command<br />
(SMDC) was scheduled to request<br />
proposals for an LEMV prototype that<br />
will fly within 18 months of contract signature<br />
under a five-year technology<br />
demonstration programme. Tests are to<br />
include 21 days in an ’operational environment‘,<br />
presumed to be Afghanistan,<br />
in the third quarter of FY11.<br />
The definitive LEMV is expected to<br />
carry a 3175-kg/73-kW payload, cruise at<br />
55 km/h, and remain within two km of its<br />
nominal station for at least 50% of the<br />
time, and to be controlled from the US<br />
via satellite.<br />
The Lockheed Martin<br />
RQ-3 Darkstar was an<br />
unsuccessful attempt<br />
to develop a stealthy<br />
ISR drone that could<br />
penetrate hostile<br />
airspace. This<br />
example is exhibited<br />
at the Smithsonian<br />
Institute. (US Air<br />
Force)<br />
3
Next Big Thing<br />
The large surface area of an airship<br />
makes it a natural application for solar<br />
regenerative propulsion, offering the<br />
prospect that it can store sufficient excess<br />
energy during the day from photovoltaic<br />
arrays to power the vehicle throughout<br />
the night. Current studies appear to indicate<br />
that an endurance of weeks or<br />
months can probably be achieved, given<br />
long summer days and the absence of<br />
strong winds.<br />
Whether solar-powered airships can<br />
achieve extreme endurance year-round<br />
throughout the desired band of global<br />
latitudes is unknown. If successful in<br />
these terms, stratospheric airships operating<br />
in ‘near space’ between manned aircraft<br />
and satellites would offer excellent<br />
coverage and low operating costs.<br />
One of the planned applications for<br />
this technology is the US Army-led HAA<br />
(High Altitude Airship) project, which is<br />
intended to carry between a 900 and 1800-<br />
kg sensor payload to 65,000 ft and stay<br />
there for months. The HAA began as a US<br />
MDA (Missile Defense Agency) programme,<br />
under which Lockheed Martin<br />
received a $ 149 billion contract in 2005 to<br />
produce a prototype. This was cancelled<br />
by the MDA in FY08, and the programme<br />
transferred to the US Army’s SMDC.<br />
SMDC has funded a high-altitude concept<br />
demonstrator aimed at proving the<br />
feasibility of HAA. This is the Lockheed<br />
Martin Hale-D (High Altitude Long<br />
Endurance – Demonstrator), an 82-metre<br />
reusable airship designed to fly with a 23-<br />
Boeing is funding<br />
development of the X-<br />
45C Phantom Ray, a<br />
larger derivative of<br />
the X-45A which flew<br />
in 2004. The first X-<br />
45A is exhibited in<br />
the Smithsonian<br />
Institute Air & Space<br />
Museum in<br />
Washington DC. (US<br />
Air Force)<br />
kg/500-Watt payload for at least two<br />
weeks. The Hale-D has solar arrays on the<br />
upper surface of the hull, and lithium-ion<br />
batteries to power the aircraft at night.<br />
Whereas the HAA is intended for<br />
heavy loads, months of flight and selfdeployment<br />
from America, SMDC’s<br />
Hisentinel is to be launched in-theatre<br />
with a small/medium (up to 100 kg) payload<br />
and an endurance of «greater than<br />
30 days». In 2005 the Southwest Research<br />
Institute (SwRI) Hisentinel20, with a hull<br />
fabricated by Aerostar International,<br />
made a five-hour flight with a 27-kg payload,<br />
reaching 74,000 ft.<br />
Remarkable as it was, this was not the<br />
first time that powered flight had been<br />
achieved by an airship in the stratosphere.<br />
In 1969, carrying a 2.3-kg payload, powered<br />
flight was achieved at 70,000 ft by the<br />
Noteworthy for its unusual store configuration, this unmarked General Atomics MQ-9<br />
Predator B is carrying two unidentified pods of completely different sizes. (US Central<br />
Command)<br />
High Platform II, made by Raven Industries,<br />
Aerostar’s parent company.<br />
The next project in this SMDC stratospheric<br />
airship series is the 54.6-metre<br />
Hisentinel50, designed to carry a 23-<br />
kg/50-Watt payload and fly at around<br />
66,000 ft for more than 24 hours. The<br />
Hisentinel50 was first demonstrated at<br />
Holloman AFB, New Mexico in June 2008.<br />
The final objective in the series is a Hisentinel<br />
that can support a 90-kg/1000-Watt<br />
payload at 67,000 ft for 30+ days.<br />
In parallel with these US Army efforts,<br />
Darpa is funding the Isis (Integrated Sensor<br />
Is Structure) project, combining the<br />
extreme endurance of solar power with a<br />
massive Aesa (Active Electronically<br />
Scanned Array) in the form of a vertical<br />
cylinder using the full depth of the envelope.<br />
To avoid the difficulty of landing<br />
Isis, it is intended to be used like a nonrecoverable<br />
satellite, hopefully to stay<br />
aloft for ten years or more. To put this in<br />
perspective, communication satellites<br />
have a typical life of 15 years.<br />
By the 2020s strike<br />
missions may be<br />
performed by manned<br />
aircraft operating in<br />
partnership with<br />
armed drones. This<br />
artist’s impression<br />
teams the Rafale<br />
fighter with Neuron<br />
Ucavs. (Dassault<br />
Aviation)<br />
In April 2009 Lockheed Martin was<br />
awarded the first $ 100 million tranche of<br />
a $ 400 million contract to design and fly<br />
a one-third scale Isis demonstrator, which<br />
is to stay aloft for 90 days. Instead of storing<br />
excess daytime power in batteries, it<br />
will be used to break down stored water<br />
by hydrolysis, to produce hydrogen and<br />
oxygen. These elements will power fuel<br />
cells at night.<br />
Raytheon is developing the Isis radar<br />
system, which employs antennas weighing<br />
only 1.8 kg/metre 2 . It combines a 600-<br />
metre 2 UHF radar to detect ground targets,<br />
and a 100-metre 2 X-band radar for<br />
aerial targets and tracking. The Isis<br />
demonstrator is expected to fly in 2013,<br />
and – as part of its tests – to operate in the<br />
target-rich environment of the Florida<br />
Keys for 90 days.<br />
The production Isis is expected to be<br />
300 metres long and have antennas<br />
totalling 6000 metre 2 . It will provide a<br />
detection radius of 600 km against small<br />
cruise missiles, compared to the 300 to 375<br />
km of fixed-wing AEW&C aircraft.<br />
The US Air Force may in future take a<br />
more active role in the development and<br />
operation of high-altitude airships, if only<br />
to reduce its dependence on expensive<br />
commercial satcom links.<br />
4 armada Compendium Drones 2010
CASTING A LONGER SHADOW<br />
UNMANNED CAPABILITIES<br />
REACHING ACROSS THE BATTLESPACE<br />
AAI has proven itself time and time again as a leader in unmanned<br />
technology with the Shadow ® Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System<br />
(UAS) and One System ® Ground Control Station. Approaching<br />
500,000 flight hours, Shadow has soared over the battlespace,<br />
bringing critical tactical information to the warfighter on the ground,<br />
in the air and at sea.<br />
Building on its leadership in unmanned technology, AAI has<br />
advanced its control systems, Aerosonde ® Small UAS, Unmanned<br />
Surface Vessels, and manned/unmanned teaming concepts to<br />
new heights. With successful tests of multiple UAS control, and<br />
manned/unmanned teaming, the sky is no longer the limit, but the<br />
beginning of future technologies being applied today toward<br />
tomorrow’s challenges.<br />
Find out more about the growing shadow AAI casts over<br />
the UAS industry at RSC_AAIReg@aai.textron.com.<br />
aaicorp.com<br />
© 2010 AAI Corporation. All rights reserved. AAI is an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc.<br />
(NYSE: TXT) company. Shadow is a registered trademark of AAI Corporation. AAI and design is a registered<br />
trademark of AAI Corporation. Aerosonde is a registered trademark of Aerosonde Pty Ltd., a strategic business<br />
of AAI. One System is a registered trademark of the U.S. Army. Helicopter photo courtesy U.S. Army.
Extreme Planes<br />
A recent Nasa comparison of hale drone<br />
concepts for the communication relay<br />
mission found that a lighter-than-air<br />
vehicle with solar arrays and a hydrogen-<br />
The much heralded<br />
jet-powered General<br />
Atomics Predator C,<br />
or Avenger, had its<br />
maiden flight in April<br />
2009, featuring a<br />
stealthy configuration<br />
and an internal<br />
weapons bay.<br />
(General Atomics)<br />
Reports indicate that the Pentagon is also<br />
attracted to HTA aircraft by the fact that<br />
they are easier to deploy.<br />
For HTA drones to achieve extreme<br />
endurance, they need to combine<br />
advanced solar panels and energy storage<br />
tion, to be delivered within five years. In<br />
the same weight category, the Aurora<br />
Flight Sciences Sunlight Eagle grosses 75<br />
kg, but has a span of 35 metres.<br />
Aurora, teamed with Boeing, is also<br />
working under SMDC funding on the<br />
3175-kg, 40-metre span Orion, a prototype<br />
of which is due to fly this year. In<br />
definitive Hale form with 76-metre span<br />
and 5272-kg gross weight, this is to be fitted<br />
with a hydrogen-fuelled Ford piston<br />
engine, and is designed to remain at<br />
around 65,000 ft for seven days.<br />
In a similar category, but using a liquid<br />
hydrogen-powered fuel cell, the Aerovironment<br />
Global Observer GO-1 is a 4100-<br />
kg, 40-metre-span drone of which three<br />
have been ordered under a JCTD (Joint<br />
Capability Technology Demonstration)<br />
programme supported by six government<br />
organisations. Funding currently totals<br />
$ 120 million. The GO-1, which was due to<br />
This variant of the General Atomics Predator B is named Guardian, and is equipped with a Raytheon Seavue maritime radar for use<br />
by US Customs and Border Protection and the US Coast Guard. (US Customs and Border Protection)<br />
This artist’s impression shows a<br />
Lockheed Martin project aimed at the<br />
US Air Force’s emerging requirement<br />
for an MQ-M drone to replace both<br />
Predator and Reaper. Two wing sizes<br />
are proposed. This image suggests that<br />
the engine(s) will drive a generator that<br />
will power a podded motor. Whether<br />
the tail surface will be happy to live<br />
with the propeller’s turbulence remains<br />
to be seen. (Lockheed Martin)<br />
air proton exchange membrane fuel cell<br />
gave the best mission performance. However,<br />
a diesel-engined conventional wingfuselage-tail<br />
HTA (heavier-than-air)<br />
design emerged as the preferred consumable<br />
fuel concept (accepting its more limited<br />
endurance) in view of the large size<br />
and technical risks of the LTA vehicle.<br />
facilities with sailplane-like lift/drag<br />
ratios. This implies a long-span, relatively<br />
fragile wing. The Pentagon sees this type<br />
of aeroplane as having potential in the<br />
sigint role.<br />
In 2008 the 31-kg Qinetiq Zephyr Six<br />
stayed aloft for 3.44 days, an unofficial<br />
endurance record for drones. The<br />
improved Zephyr Seven will weigh 80 kg<br />
and have a wingspan of 18.1 metres. It is<br />
scheduled to fly this year and achieve an<br />
endurance of 14 days. In May 2009 Navair<br />
awarded Qinetiq a $ 45 million contract<br />
for seven Zephyrs and one ground stamake<br />
its first flight by the end of April<br />
2010, is planned to loiter at around 60,000<br />
ft with a 180-kg payload for up to one<br />
week. The follow-on GO-2 will have a span<br />
of 79 metres and a payload of 450 kg.<br />
The current ’ultimate’ in solar-powered<br />
HTA projects is the Darpa Vulture,<br />
which is envisioned as a 150-metre-span<br />
drone that will carry a 450-kg/5.0-kW payload<br />
to between 65,000 and 90,000 ft and<br />
stay there for five years. Following Phase<br />
One project definition studies, Darpa has<br />
invited bids for a $ 155 million Phase Two<br />
contract to build and fly a demonstrator<br />
Showing minor<br />
changes from its<br />
Predator A forebear,<br />
the General Atomics<br />
MQ-1C Warrior has<br />
a heavy-fuel engine,<br />
automatic take-off and<br />
landing and four<br />
weapon hardpoints.<br />
(US Army)<br />
6 armada Compendium Drones 2010
The Lockheed Martin Tracer (Tactical Reconnaissance and Counter-concealment<br />
Enabled Radar) is here illustrated on a Predator. The UHF antenna is in the pod and<br />
the VHF array under the starboard wing. (Lockheed Martin)<br />
with a span of at least 135 metres. It is to<br />
carry a 90-kg/1.0-kW payload and have an<br />
endurance of 30 to 90 days.<br />
Hale Jets<br />
The aircraft that sets the standards in jetpowered<br />
hale drones is the Northrop<br />
Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk, which the<br />
manufacturer says has a typical endurance<br />
of 24 hours. Nominal gross weight for the<br />
stretched RQ-4B is 14,628 kg. The US Air<br />
Force goal is to have three RQ-4 combat air<br />
patrollers by FY11, and nine by FY16.<br />
The US Air Force plan is to acquire<br />
seven Block Ten RQ-4As, six Block 20<br />
RQ-4Bs, 42 Block 30 RQ-4Bs with Eiss<br />
(Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suite) and<br />
later Asip (Airborne Signals Intelligence<br />
Payload) and 22 Block 40 RQ-4Bs with<br />
MP-Rtip (Multi-Platform – Radar Technology<br />
Insertion Program) radars.<br />
The $ 303 million FY10 Pentagon contract<br />
covers two RQ-4B Block 30s and<br />
three Block 40s. The FY11 request<br />
includes four RQ-4s for the US Air Force.<br />
The first Block 40 (the 18th Global Hawk<br />
for the US Air Force) had its maiden<br />
flight in November 2009. Air Force RQ-<br />
4s are currently flying from Beale and<br />
Edwards AFBs in California, and a forward<br />
operating location in the United<br />
Arab Emirates.<br />
Two RQ-4As are being tested by the<br />
US Navy under the Bams-A programme<br />
(Bams standing for Broad Area Maritime<br />
Surveillance). The Navy plans to acquire<br />
six development and 62 production<br />
‘Block X’ RQ-4Ns. The Bams is to be<br />
operational by FY19.<br />
The RQ-4Ns are to be home-based at<br />
Jacksonville NAS, Florida, Whidbey<br />
Island NAS, Washington and Point Mugu<br />
NAS, California. Overseas bases are provisionally<br />
named as Andersen AFB on<br />
Guam, Kadena AB on Okinawa and<br />
Sigonella NAS, Sicily. Global Hawks will<br />
provide five combat air patrols (one for<br />
each US Navy fleet) with four aircraft<br />
assigned to each. Take-offs and landings<br />
will be controlled locally, but in flight the<br />
aircraft will be controlled by satcom from<br />
Patuxent River NAWC, Maryland.<br />
The first export Global Hawk is a<br />
Block 20 RQ-4B purchased by Germany<br />
for Sigint duties, using an EADS payload.<br />
Distinguished by six large underwing<br />
pods, this Eurohawk is due to ferry to<br />
Manching in southern Germany around<br />
mid-2010. Prime contractor is Eurohawk,<br />
a joint venture by Northrop Grumman<br />
and EADS. It is anticipated that a further<br />
four aircraft will be ordered in 2011 for<br />
delivery in 2016-2017.<br />
If funding allows, 15 (down from 17)<br />
Nato nations are to acquire eight Global<br />
Hawk Block 40s under a € 1.2 billion<br />
AGS (Alliance Ground Surveillance)<br />
programme, which will base the aircraft<br />
at Sigonella.<br />
Stealthy Jets<br />
Although the Global Hawk has largely<br />
taken over the role of the manned Lockheed<br />
U-2, it can operate only in a permissive<br />
environment. The US Air Force<br />
retains the ambition to own a stealthy<br />
sensor platform that can make deep penetrations<br />
into hostile airspace, supplementing<br />
satellite imagery.<br />
Pictured at the Dubai Air Show, this mock-up represents the BAE Systems Mantis, which<br />
first flew in October 2009. The Mantis could provide a twin-engined alternative to the<br />
existing Reaper and Heron TP drones. (Armada/EHB)<br />
One of many<br />
newcomers, the Elbit<br />
Hermes 90 took to the<br />
air in late 2009. (Elbit<br />
Systems)<br />
An attempt was made to produce a<br />
stealthy ISR drone in the form of the<br />
Lockheed Martin RQ-3 Darkstar, which<br />
was developed with help from Boeing<br />
(responsible for the wings) and Darpa.<br />
The RQ-3 first flew in January 1996 and<br />
crashed three months later. A more stable,<br />
fully autonomous RQ-3A flew in<br />
June 1998. Two more were built, but<br />
never flew.<br />
The Darkstar, combining a straight wing<br />
with a half-saucer fuselage, proved too<br />
small to generate a useful payload-radius<br />
performance, and the programme was officially<br />
cancelled in January 1999. Grossing<br />
3855 kg, it is credited with an endurance of<br />
eight hours, but a cruise altitude of only<br />
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45,000 ft, a cruise speed of only 465 km/h<br />
and a range of only 925 km.<br />
Lockheed Martin continued to work<br />
(reportedly under company funding) on<br />
a stealthy high-altitude drone, returning<br />
to a conventional sweptback flying-wing<br />
design. The twin-engined P-175 Polecat<br />
flew in 2005, but crashed in December<br />
2006. It is believed to have had a span of<br />
27.5 metres and a GVW of 4090 kg.<br />
In 2007 there were reports of an<br />
unidentified single-engined flying-wing<br />
drone at Kandahar, Afghanistan. In late<br />
2009 this was identified as a Lockheed<br />
Martin RQ-170 Sentinel, owned by the<br />
US Air Force’s 30th Reconnaissance<br />
Squadron, based at Tonopah, Nevada. Its<br />
purpose may be to make ISR penetrations<br />
into Iranian airspace.<br />
Combat Drones<br />
America’s J-Ucas (Joint – Unmanned<br />
Combat Air System) project, an ill-conceived<br />
attempt to develop a common air<br />
vehicle for both the US Air Force and US<br />
Navy, collapsed in 2006. However, in 2007<br />
the Navy decided to continue with a<br />
Ucas-D (demonstrator) programme,<br />
using the 20,865-kg Northrop Grumman<br />
X-47B prototype, derived from the<br />
X-47A, which flew in 2003. Powered by<br />
a single Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220U<br />
engine, the X-47B is estimated to have<br />
a nine-hour endurance and a 3000-km<br />
radius and boasts a maximum speed of<br />
around Mach 0.8.<br />
In May 2009 an<br />
EADS-led team<br />
completed a € 60<br />
million risk-reduction<br />
study of the Talarion<br />
ISR drone, funded by<br />
the defence ministries<br />
of France, Germany<br />
and Spain. (Y. L.<br />
Mao)<br />
rier-based Ucas demonstrator, not necessarily<br />
derived from Ucas-D. Major funding<br />
is to start in FY13, and flight trials are<br />
to begin in 2018.<br />
Recognising the potential value of the<br />
future combat drone market, Boeing is<br />
continuing development of the X-45C (a<br />
larger derivative of the X-45A flown in<br />
the J-Ucas programme) under the name<br />
Phantom Ray, using its own funds. A<br />
smaller aircraft than the X-47B, the X-45C<br />
Bearing French military registration F-SDAU and Israeli AF serial 1021, this Armée de<br />
l’Air IAI Heron is the first ‘Harfang’ of the service’s four delivered to Bagram Air Base<br />
in Afghanistan. (US Air Force)<br />
The first of two X-47Bs is scheduled to<br />
fly in the second quarter of 2010 at<br />
Edwards AFB and commence carrier trials<br />
in 2012, followed by in-flight refuelling<br />
tests. The US Navy plans to issue an<br />
RFI (request for information) in late<br />
2010 for an armed, sensor-equipped, carhas<br />
a gross weight of 16,555 kg and is powered<br />
by a General Electric F404-GE-102D<br />
engine. First flight is expected to take<br />
place in December 2010 at the White<br />
Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.<br />
Other countries are following the US<br />
lead. The BAE Systems Taranis project is<br />
aimed at a British deep strike requirement<br />
possibly arising around 2025. The<br />
Dassault-led Neuron, due to fly in 2011,<br />
brings together the aerospace industries<br />
of France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden<br />
and Switzerland.<br />
Russia’s Rac-MiG unveiled the Skat<br />
(Skate) at Maks 2007, and in the following<br />
year China exhibited models of the<br />
Warrior Eagle and Shenyang Dark<br />
Sword. In 2009 Korea Aerospace Industries<br />
(KAI) unveiled at Seoul a model of<br />
the K-Ucav, designed for both the air-toair<br />
and air-to-ground missions.<br />
The Male Patroller<br />
being prepared for<br />
flight in June 2009,<br />
featuring a bellymounted<br />
Euroflir<br />
turret. The small pods<br />
under the tail boom<br />
and on the tail fin tip<br />
are Ku-band datalink<br />
aerials, which, thus<br />
positioned, enable the<br />
aircraft to remain in<br />
contact in all flight<br />
attitudes. (Sagem)<br />
Ground Attack and Males<br />
The Pentagon’s 30-year combined aviation<br />
plan for the US Air Force and US<br />
Navy refers to a total of 72 ’multi-role<br />
UAVs‘ (MQ) in 2011, growing to 223 by<br />
2015 and 476 by 2020.<br />
The current standard in the ‘persistent<br />
strike function’ (US Air Force-speak) is<br />
set by the turboprop-powered General<br />
Atomics MQ-9 Reaper. The first of two<br />
pre-production YMQ-9s flew on 17 October<br />
2003 (the proof-of-concept Predator<br />
B having flown on 2 February 2001). Both<br />
YMQ-9s were sent to Afghanistan in<br />
2005, but production MQ-9s began operations<br />
in Afghanistan only in 2007, and in<br />
Iraq in 2008.<br />
The US Air Force is planning to phase<br />
out its piston-engined MQ-1 Predators<br />
and operate an all-Reaper fleet. The service<br />
hopes to buy at least 319 Reapers.<br />
Some 45 MQ-9s had been delivered to<br />
the US Air Force (out of 60 produced) by<br />
the end of 2009, for operation by the 42nd<br />
Attack Squadron, based at Creech AFB,<br />
Nevada. The US Air Force FY11 request<br />
includes 48 MQ-9s, twice the current production<br />
rate.<br />
The 4763-kg MQ-9 has an endurance<br />
of 18 hours and can carry 1360 kg of<br />
stores. Automatic take-off and landing<br />
capability (ATLC) and the first stage of<br />
electronic attack (EA) are scheduled for<br />
FY10. The second stage (with the Mald-J<br />
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The U-Tacs Watch -<br />
keeper took to the air<br />
on 14 April 2010 at<br />
ParcAberporth in<br />
Wales. Britain has<br />
placed an order for<br />
54 home-built<br />
Watchkeepers. U-Tacs<br />
is a 51/49% Elbit-<br />
Thales UK joint<br />
company. (Thales)<br />
Responding to Defense Secretary Gates’<br />
2008 demand for more ISR assets in-theatre,<br />
the army launched two interim-standard<br />
QRC (Quick Reaction Capability)<br />
initiatives.<br />
The QRC-1 system was deployed to<br />
Iraq in July 2009 as four unarmed air<br />
vehicles, with only EO/IR sensors and<br />
communications relay capability. The<br />
QRC-2 will deploy to Afghanistan in July<br />
2010 in the form of four air vehicles, each<br />
with four Hellfire launchers and a General<br />
Atomics Lynx Block 30 radar. Later<br />
decoy-jammer) is due in FY12, and protected<br />
communications in FY12.<br />
Since it comes within MTCR (Missile<br />
Technology Control Regime) guidelines,<br />
export marketing of the MQ-9 is restricted<br />
to close allies, such as the Euro-Nato<br />
1C systems, each with twelve air vehicles<br />
and five ground control stations.<br />
The US Army gained initial experience<br />
of the General Atomics series by<br />
operating I-Gnat ERs in Iraq from 2004,<br />
using the designation Warrior Alpha.<br />
With extended wing<br />
(which makes it loose<br />
it gull-wing design)<br />
and tail boom, Selex<br />
Galileo is aiming at<br />
the entry level of the<br />
Male drone court,<br />
with a 20,000-ft<br />
ceiling and a 20-hour<br />
endurance. (Selex)<br />
The Spanish Siva developed by the<br />
Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aero -<br />
espacial is here seen in its catapult<br />
launch configuration and a few<br />
examples of which are operated by the<br />
Spanish Army. A picture featuring this<br />
300-kilo aircraft fitted with a conven -<br />
tional landing gear can be seen in our<br />
centrefold table. (Inta)<br />
production MQ-1Cs will have the<br />
Northrop Grumman Starlite radar.<br />
Under its FY10 budget the US Army<br />
acquired 24 MQ-1Cs. The FY11 request is<br />
for a further 29.<br />
Predator: The 1022-kg MQ-1 Predator A<br />
(now referred to simply as Predator), which<br />
has an endurance of 22 hours, continues to<br />
nations, Australia and Japan. Britain has<br />
bought three MQ-9s and requested ten<br />
more, Germany requested five but decided<br />
to defer acquisition (leasing IAI<br />
Herons as an interim measure), and Italy<br />
is buying four. Turkey is believed to have<br />
asked for both Predator As and Reapers<br />
for use against Kurdish insurgents, but the<br />
US will supply only the former type.<br />
Before leaving the General Atomics<br />
Predator B family, it may be noted that<br />
US Customs and Border Protection<br />
operates five Predator Bs. In late 2009<br />
CBP took delivery of the first of two prototypes<br />
of a maritime version, named<br />
Guardian. In addition to the standard<br />
Raytheon EO/IR sensor turret, the<br />
Guardian has a Raytheon Seavue radar.<br />
Under a joint programme between CBP<br />
and the US Coast Guard, the Guardians<br />
will be stationed at Cape Canaveral Air<br />
Force Station, Florida.<br />
The US Army’s 1452-kg MQ-1C (Sky)<br />
Warrior or Gray Eagle is a major advance<br />
on the Predator A, with (in production<br />
form) a Thielert heavy-fuel engine, a Sar<br />
(synthetic aperture radar), automatic<br />
take-off and landing capability and provisions<br />
for stores on four pylons. The US<br />
Army plans to acquire at least eleven MQ-<br />
Patroller Firming Up<br />
The Patroller (mentioned in the core text) is in fact based on the all-carbon, fixed<br />
tricycle landing gear S15 airframe developed by Stemme’s special aircraft division<br />
and does not feature a retractable propeller (the aircraft remains powered<br />
at all times). In addition, the Patroller features two underwing pylons that will enable<br />
it to carry extra fuel and/or a podded synthetic aperture radar. Since the initial Summer<br />
2009 tests in Finland, the Patroller was submitted to a new flight campaign in<br />
France’s open airspace near Pontoise, something that was made possible by the fact<br />
that the pilot station is retained inside the cockpit. Not only did this enable Sagem<br />
to confirm the system’s validity, but also its triplex controls, which hitherto were simplex.<br />
With extra fuel accommodated under the aforementioned pylons, the aircraft’s<br />
autonomy is boosted from 10 to 20 hours, but the aircraft is now being modified to<br />
carry even more fuel in integrated wing tanks with a view to pushing the flight hours<br />
to the 30 mark. In a configuration that substitutes one of the underwing pods for a<br />
synthetic aperture radar (a future integration that will largely be customer oriented),<br />
the autonomy will hover around the 25-hour figure. By Summer 2010, according<br />
to Sagem, the Patroller will have stepped out of its demonstrator status and<br />
become a prototype in its own right. By the time these lines are read, the aircraft will<br />
be (or have been) tested at Istres with and without on-board pilot. What will next<br />
happen, to use Sagem’s own words, “is just a matter of industrialisation”.<br />
As an openly exportable Male drone, the Patroller aims at remaining within the onetonne<br />
class for which the market, outside the United States, is currently estimated at<br />
€ 500 million. For France alone, the Patroller is intended as a ’inter-ministerial system‘<br />
by virtue of which it would be operated by the French Air Force for various military<br />
(the need has been demonstrated by the Harfang) and civilian missions, where<br />
it would be able to cover 80% of heavier Male drone capabilities, but at only 20% of<br />
the cost.<br />
12 armada Compendium Drones 2010
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fly the majority of the US Air Force orbits<br />
over southwest Asia (more than 30 out of<br />
39 by the end of 2009). The US Air Force<br />
has already received over 200 Predators,<br />
although many have been lost in accidents.<br />
The service has a force objective of 185<br />
MQ-1s, funded through the Military Intelligence<br />
Program. Italy has six long-span<br />
RQ-1Bs. Turkey has ordered six while<br />
Poland has two on loan.<br />
Painted with the name<br />
‘Storm’, under which<br />
it is promoted in the<br />
US, this Elbit Systems<br />
Hermes 90 is<br />
equipped with the<br />
company’s new<br />
enhanced Micro<br />
compass sensor<br />
payload. (Elbit)<br />
By the end of 2009 General Atomics<br />
had delivered 242 RQ/MQ-1s, 26 MQ-<br />
1Cs, and 60 MQ-9s. Around 70 more aircraft<br />
had been completed by General<br />
Atomics in the form of the earlier Gnat<br />
series and one-offs, such as the prototype<br />
Predator C/Avenger.<br />
The US Air Force is planning an MQ-<br />
M (previously MQ-X) family of stealthy<br />
medium-weight multi-role drones that<br />
was originally to enter service around<br />
2015, replacing both the MQ-1 and the<br />
MQ-9. However, the timescale is moving<br />
to the right, and the initial MQ-Ma is now<br />
due in 2020, and becoming more capable<br />
and heavier, around 9000 kg.<br />
The MQ-M is seen as being available<br />
in three capability phases. The roles of the<br />
MQ-Ma will include electronic attack,<br />
strike and close air support. The MQ-Mb<br />
of 2020 will add Sead (Suppression of<br />
Enemy Air Defences), air interdiction, air<br />
refuelling (as a small tanker), aeromed<br />
evacuation, casevac and swarming technology.<br />
It will also receive fuel in flight.<br />
The MQ-Mc of around 2047 will add to its<br />
repertoire defensive counter-air, missile<br />
defence and strategic attack.<br />
In January 2010 Darpa requested proposals<br />
for a new ground-attack drone<br />
that could be demonstrated in 2012-2013<br />
and form the unmanned component of a<br />
future close air support system. It may be<br />
a purpose-built drone, or a derivative of a<br />
manned aircraft, such as a ’QF-16‘ or<br />
The US Marine Corps requirement for<br />
vtol cargo drones to perform resupply<br />
for forward areas has sparked interest<br />
in ducted fan projects, including this<br />
AD-150 design by American Dynamics<br />
Flight Systems. (American Dynamics<br />
Flight Systems)<br />
The Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scout may later be cleared to use lightweight<br />
weapons such as the same company’s laser spot-homing GBU-44/B Viper Strike air-tosurface<br />
missile. (Northrop Grumman)<br />
’UA-10’. The purpose-built drone is to<br />
have the endurance of an MQ-1/9, coupled<br />
with a warload of 2270 kg, a maximum<br />
speed over Mach 0.65, and a maximum<br />
load factor above 3G.<br />
Avenger: General Atomics has meanwhile<br />
private-ventured a jet-powered,<br />
low-signature Predator C or Avenger.<br />
The first Avenger grosses 5220 kg (compared<br />
to 4763 kg for Predator B) and first<br />
flew in April 2009. The second Avenger is<br />
stretched, and is expected to weigh up to<br />
6800 kg. It has a single Pratt & Whitney<br />
Canada PW545B turbofan and an internal<br />
weapons bay. The Avenger is estimated<br />
to be capable of 540 km/h and a ceiling<br />
of at least 60,000 ft. A carrier-based<br />
version has been projected.<br />
Another MQ-M project is a stealthy<br />
Lockheed Martin Skunk Works concept<br />
using a hybrid propulsion system. It<br />
would employ a turbo-diesel engine in<br />
the loiter phase, driving a propeller<br />
mounted on a vertical fin, between veetail<br />
surfaces. It would switch to two jet<br />
engines for high-speed dash, and use all<br />
three units in climbing to high altitude.<br />
Two wing sizes are proposed: a shorter<br />
span for the hunter-killer role at around<br />
14 armada Compendium Drones 2010
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and space assets; advanced multispectral sensor systems<br />
that reveal critical intelligence; and ground-based<br />
networks and processing that transform data into<br />
knowledge in near real time. Across air, land, sea, space<br />
and cyberspace, there is one constant for proven<br />
ISR: Raytheon.
PHOTO COURTESY OF GENERAL ATOMICS<br />
Learn more about<br />
Raytheon Intelligence<br />
Surveillance &<br />
Reconnaissance<br />
solutions.<br />
www.raytheon.com<br />
Keyword: ISRnow<br />
© 2010 Raytheon Company. All rights reserved.<br />
“Customer Success Is Our Mission” is a registered trademark of Raytheon Company.
A160T Hummingbird<br />
Boeing<br />
10.67<br />
10.97<br />
2540 30 24<br />
1x<br />
572 hp<br />
P&WC<br />
PW207D<br />
Payload: 300 kg<br />
Sar, EO/IR<br />
t-o/recov: vtol<br />
Aerolight<br />
Aeronautics<br />
2.56<br />
4.00<br />
40 10 4.00<br />
8 hp<br />
n/a<br />
Payload: 8 kg<br />
Hi-resolution<br />
CCD or night<br />
camera<br />
t-o/recov: cat-para<br />
Bateleur<br />
10<br />
15<br />
Payload: 200 kg<br />
Denel Argos or<br />
Goshawk/Avi -<br />
tronics elint or Sar<br />
Bird Eye 400<br />
0.80<br />
2.20<br />
Payload:<br />
Day or IR<br />
n/a<br />
Denel<br />
1000 25 24<br />
1x Rotax<br />
914 or<br />
Subaru<br />
EA-82T<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
IAI Malat<br />
5.60 n/a 1.00<br />
n/a<br />
t-o/recov: hand or<br />
cat-belly<br />
Eagle 1<br />
EADS-IAI Malat<br />
4.00<br />
16.3<br />
1150 25 24<br />
1x Rotax<br />
914<br />
Payload: 250 kg<br />
EO or EW<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Eagle 2<br />
EADS-IAI Malat<br />
13<br />
22<br />
3600 45 24<br />
1x<br />
1200 hp<br />
P&WC<br />
PT6A-67A<br />
Payload:<br />
~500 kg<br />
EO, EW or Sar<br />
(based on Heron<br />
TP, development<br />
on back-burner)<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Global Observer GO-2<br />
Aerovironment<br />
25.4<br />
78.94<br />
Payload: 450 kg<br />
EO or EW<br />
Fuel Cell<br />
8 motors<br />
4127 65 168+<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Goldeneye 80<br />
Aurora Flight Sciences<br />
0.70<br />
1.40<br />
11 5.00 1.00<br />
n/a<br />
Payload: 1 kg<br />
Day IR, Athena<br />
Guidestar 111-m<br />
nav. & ref.<br />
system, IR, flir<br />
t-o/recov: vtol<br />
Heron TP<br />
IAI Malat<br />
14<br />
26<br />
4650 45 36<br />
Payload: 245 kg<br />
TV & IR, custom<br />
(IAI Tamam,<br />
various)<br />
1x<br />
1200 hp<br />
P&WC<br />
PT6-67A t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Hunter MQ-5B<br />
Northrop Grumman<br />
7.01<br />
10.44<br />
885 18 20.5<br />
2x 57 hp<br />
dual<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
TV & IR<br />
(IAI Tamam)<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Luna<br />
EMT<br />
2.26<br />
4.17<br />
A Compendium of Drones<br />
Aerosky<br />
Israel Aerospace Industries<br />
n/a<br />
4.48<br />
70.31 15 5.00<br />
n/a<br />
Payload: 18 kg<br />
Cots EO<br />
(manufacturer not<br />
determined)<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Aerosonde Mk 4<br />
AAI-Aerosonde<br />
2.10<br />
2.90<br />
15.20 15 30<br />
H-Type<br />
42 cc<br />
EFI<br />
Payload: 5 kg<br />
Various stabilised<br />
EO-IR Blos<br />
imagery meteo<br />
sensors<br />
t-o/recov: hand-belly<br />
Buster LE<br />
Mission Technologies<br />
1.83<br />
1.02<br />
6.80 12 9.00<br />
n/a<br />
Payload: 3 kg<br />
Day/night, Sar,<br />
acoustic, remote<br />
relay link<br />
t-o/recov: cat-para<br />
Camcopter S-100<br />
Schiebel<br />
3.09<br />
3.40<br />
200 18 6.00<br />
1x 55 hp<br />
Austro<br />
engines<br />
Payload: 50 kg<br />
Day, IR, elint,<br />
comint, laser,<br />
rangefinder, laser<br />
pointer, Sar<br />
t-o/recov: vtol<br />
E-Swift Eye<br />
0.82<br />
1.00<br />
Payload: 8 kg<br />
Infrared, Mpeg<br />
recorder<br />
Eurohawk<br />
14.53<br />
39.90<br />
Payload: 50 kg<br />
Sigint, elint,<br />
comint, satcom,<br />
Sar MTI<br />
Cyberflight<br />
2.20 4.00 1.00<br />
1x<br />
electric<br />
t-o/recov: hand-belly<br />
EADS-Northrop Grumman<br />
14.628 60 30+<br />
1x R-R<br />
AE3007H<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Hermes 90<br />
Elbit Systems<br />
4.00<br />
5.00<br />
110 15 15+<br />
14 hp<br />
2-stroke<br />
Payload: 25 kg<br />
Elbit Enhanced<br />
Micro Compass<br />
t-o/recov: conv/catconv<br />
Hermes 180<br />
Elbit Systems<br />
4.43<br />
6.00<br />
195 15 10<br />
1x UEL<br />
38 hp<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
EO, IR laser designator,<br />
GMTI<br />
UK: Athena<br />
Guidestar 411<br />
nav. & ref. system<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
I-Gnat<br />
6.00<br />
13<br />
Payload: 25 kg<br />
EO, IR or Sar<br />
(L-3 <strong>Wescam</strong>)<br />
I-Gnat-ER Warrior Alpha<br />
8.00<br />
17<br />
Payload:<br />
Flir, TV, Lynx<br />
Sar, Ku-band<br />
satcom<br />
n/a<br />
General Atomics<br />
748 30 50<br />
1x Rotax<br />
914<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
General Atomics<br />
1043 25 30<br />
1x Rotax<br />
914F<br />
115 hp<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Mariner<br />
10.97<br />
26.21<br />
Payload: 363* kg<br />
* Internal payload<br />
- external 1361 kg<br />
various<br />
Mini UAV<br />
1.05<br />
1.50<br />
Payload: 0.50 kg<br />
TV or flir Photon,<br />
gas sensors<br />
General Atomics<br />
4763 52 49<br />
1x Ase<br />
TPE331-<br />
10T<br />
tp<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Patria<br />
3 - 4 low 1.00+<br />
1x 300W<br />
type n/a<br />
t-o/recov: hand-belly<br />
Pioneer<br />
4.24<br />
5.12<br />
Payload:<br />
TV & flir<br />
(IAI Tamam,<br />
Versatron)<br />
n/a<br />
Pointer<br />
1.80<br />
2.70<br />
Payload: 0.90 kg<br />
CCD camera or<br />
IR<br />
IAI-AAI<br />
210 15 6.50<br />
1x 27 hp<br />
Sachs SF2-<br />
350 t-o/recov: conv/ratoconv<br />
Aerovironment<br />
3.60 0.6+ 1.00<br />
1x<br />
electric<br />
t-o/recov: hand-belly<br />
Remoeye 006<br />
1.55<br />
Payload:<br />
Day or IR<br />
n/a<br />
Remoeye 015<br />
1.80<br />
Payload:<br />
Day or IR<br />
n/a<br />
2.72<br />
3.20<br />
n/a<br />
n/a<br />
Ucon<br />
6.00 n/a 1.50+<br />
t-o/recov: hand-belly<br />
Ucon<br />
15 n/a 4.00<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Shadow 400<br />
5.00<br />
3.82<br />
Payload: 30 kg<br />
EO/IR<br />
(various<br />
manufacturers)<br />
Shadow 600<br />
5.18<br />
7.47<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
Micro-flir, CCTV<br />
(various<br />
manufacturers)<br />
AAI<br />
201 12 5.00<br />
1x UEL AR<br />
741<br />
38 hp<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
AAI<br />
265 17 12+<br />
1x UEL<br />
AR 801<br />
50 hp<br />
t-o/recov: conv/cat/<br />
rato-conv<br />
Sky-X<br />
~7.00<br />
~6.00<br />
Payload: 200 kg<br />
Not defined,<br />
Athena Guidestar<br />
311 nav. & ref.<br />
system<br />
Sojka<br />
3.81<br />
4.08<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
CCD camera, IR<br />
(various<br />
manufacturers)<br />
Alenia<br />
1100 30 n/a<br />
1 turbine<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
VTULaSTV<br />
145 7.00 2.00<br />
2-cyl<br />
2-stroke<br />
29.5 hp<br />
t-o/recov: cat-para<br />
Talarion<br />
12<br />
27.9<br />
Payload:<br />
in design<br />
1800 kg<br />
Tipchak (1K133)<br />
2.40<br />
3.40<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
TV, IR, targeting<br />
laser (Vega)<br />
EADS<br />
7000 50 20+<br />
2x<br />
Williams<br />
FJ33-5A<br />
8.45 kN<br />
t-o/recov: in design<br />
Luch<br />
50 70 4.00<br />
Hirth<br />
12 hp<br />
t-o/recov: cat-para<br />
X-47B (Ucas-D)<br />
demonstrator<br />
11.58<br />
18.90<br />
Payload: 2040 kg<br />
EO, IR, Sar,<br />
GMTI, ESM, IO<br />
Yabhon-M<br />
4.30<br />
5.70<br />
Payload:<br />
Day, IR<br />
n/a<br />
Northrop Grumman<br />
20,865 40+ 40+<br />
P&W F100<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
ATS<br />
330 n/a 30<br />
1x 60 hp<br />
ME 684<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Compendium Drones 2010
Aerostar<br />
4.50<br />
Payload: 50 kg<br />
Stabilised EO<br />
Aladin<br />
0.60<br />
Payload:<br />
Day or IR<br />
n/a<br />
6.50<br />
1.46<br />
Aeronautics<br />
200 18 14<br />
Zanzottera<br />
2-piston<br />
490ia<br />
38 hp<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
EMT<br />
~3.0 low 0.75<br />
1x<br />
electric<br />
t-o/recov: hand-belly<br />
Coyote<br />
BAE Systems<br />
0.90<br />
1.75<br />
6.4 25 1.5<br />
8 hp<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
Sony day or BAE<br />
uncooled IR<br />
t-o/recov: expendable<br />
D-1A SR<br />
Dara Aviation<br />
1.75<br />
3.28<br />
25 n/a 4.00<br />
QA400,<br />
37cc<br />
2.5 hp<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
1A recon or<br />
weather sample<br />
1D geophysical<br />
survey<br />
t-o/recov: cartop-conv<br />
Falco<br />
Selex Galileo<br />
5.30<br />
7.20<br />
450 n/a 14<br />
UEL<br />
AR 682<br />
75 hp<br />
Payload: 70 kg<br />
EOST 45 (typical),<br />
Picosar and<br />
Gabbiano radars<br />
being integrated<br />
t-o/recov: conv/catconv<br />
Falco Evo<br />
Selex Galileo<br />
5.80<br />
12<br />
n/a 20 20<br />
UEL<br />
AR 682<br />
75 hp<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
EO, Sar<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Hermes 450<br />
Elbit Systems<br />
6.10<br />
10.52<br />
449 20 20<br />
1x UEL<br />
AR-801<br />
52 hp<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
Tesar Sar, DSP<br />
EO, compass flir<br />
and CCD<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Hermes 900<br />
Elbit Systems<br />
15<br />
15<br />
970 33 40<br />
1x Rotax<br />
100 hp<br />
Payload: 300 kg<br />
EO gimbal, Sar-<br />
GMTI (Elbit),<br />
satcom, air-toground<br />
weapons<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Integrator<br />
2.10<br />
4.80<br />
Payload: 23 kg<br />
infrared, marker<br />
I-View<br />
4.10<br />
7.10<br />
Payload: 30 kg<br />
Mosp EO or<br />
EL/M-2055B<br />
8 hp<br />
n/a<br />
Boeing/Insitu<br />
59 20 24<br />
t-o/recov: cat-snag<br />
IAI Malat<br />
250 20 8.00<br />
t-o/recov:<br />
cat-para<br />
Neptune RQ-15<br />
1.83<br />
1.83<br />
Payload:<br />
IR or TV or<br />
droppable<br />
9 kg<br />
Neuron<br />
demonstrator<br />
9.30<br />
12.50<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
Radar, IR plus<br />
guided bombs in<br />
two internal bays<br />
DRS Technologies<br />
62 8.00 4.00<br />
1x 15 hp<br />
2-stroke<br />
t-o/recov: cat/bellypara<br />
Neuron<br />
~6000 35 n/a<br />
1x Adour<br />
t-o/recov:<br />
conv-conv<br />
Predator A MQ-1<br />
General Atomics<br />
8.23<br />
14.84<br />
1043 25 24+<br />
1x Rotax<br />
914<br />
115 hp<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
EO, IR, Sar<br />
(Northrop<br />
Grumman, L-3<br />
<strong>Wescam</strong>)<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Predator B<br />
General Atomics<br />
10.36<br />
20.12<br />
4536 50 30+<br />
1x Ase<br />
TPE331-<br />
10T<br />
tp<br />
Payload:<br />
EO, IR, Sar<br />
(Northrop<br />
Grumman, L-3<br />
<strong>Wescam</strong>)<br />
n/a<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Scaneagle<br />
1.19<br />
3.05<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
Stabilised day or<br />
IR<br />
Searcher II<br />
5.85<br />
8.56<br />
Payload:<br />
TV & flir<br />
(IAI Tamam)<br />
n/a<br />
Boeing<br />
18 16 15<br />
1x 1.5 hp<br />
2-stroke<br />
t-o/recov: cat-cable<br />
IAI Malat<br />
426 19 16<br />
1x 73 hp<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Silver Fox<br />
1.46<br />
2.38<br />
Payload: 2.7 kg<br />
Colour & CCD<br />
cameras, flir<br />
Siva<br />
4.02<br />
5.81<br />
Payload: 40 kg<br />
CCD, IR<br />
stabilised turret<br />
BAE Systems<br />
9.1 16 10<br />
4-cycle<br />
JP5 or FP8<br />
t-o/recov: cat-para<br />
Inta<br />
300 12 6.50<br />
Rotax 503<br />
UL-2V<br />
49.6 hp<br />
t-o/recov: conv/catconv/para<br />
Sperwer<br />
3.51<br />
4.21<br />
1x 70 hp<br />
2-stroke<br />
Payload: 50 kg<br />
Sagem Olosp<br />
Sperwer B<br />
3.50<br />
6.20<br />
1x 70 hp<br />
2-stroke<br />
Payload:<br />
50 kg<br />
Sagem 410 TV,<br />
Matis (3-5µ) or<br />
Iris (3-12µ) plus<br />
weapons (Spike)<br />
Sagem<br />
250 17 8.00<br />
t-o/recov: cat-para<br />
Sagem<br />
350 20 12<br />
t-o/recov: cat-para<br />
Tracker (Drac)<br />
1.40<br />
3.60<br />
Payload:<br />
Day or IR<br />
1.8 kg<br />
Tu-243 (VR-3 Reys-D)<br />
8.21<br />
2.26<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
TV, IR, radiation<br />
detection<br />
EADS<br />
7.50 6.50 2.00<br />
1x<br />
electric<br />
t-o/recov: hand-belly<br />
Tupolev ANTK<br />
1397 17 n/a<br />
1x Izotov<br />
TR-3-117 tj<br />
t-o/recov: rato-para<br />
Yarara<br />
2.47<br />
Payload:<br />
EO<br />
5 kg<br />
Zala 421-12<br />
0.62<br />
Payload:<br />
Day or IR<br />
1.00 kg<br />
3.98<br />
1.60<br />
6 hp<br />
Electric<br />
Nostromo Defense<br />
30 10 6.00<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Zala Aero<br />
3.90 1.00 2.00<br />
t-o/recov: cat-para<br />
Compendium Drones 2010
Aqua Puma<br />
1.80<br />
2.59<br />
Payload:<br />
EO<br />
n/a<br />
Asio<br />
n/a<br />
n/a<br />
Payload: 1.5 kg<br />
Interchangeable<br />
top and bottom,<br />
IR and day-night<br />
Aerovironment<br />
6.35 2.50 2.50<br />
600 W<br />
t-o/recov: hand-belly<br />
Selex Galileo-Utri<br />
6.00 n/a 0.50<br />
1x<br />
electric<br />
t-o/recov: vtol<br />
Desert Hawk<br />
0.82<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
Colour day or IR<br />
Dragon Eye RQ-14A<br />
1.73<br />
Payload:<br />
Day TV<br />
n/a<br />
1.31<br />
1.16<br />
Lockheed Martin<br />
3.20 1.00 2.50<br />
1x<br />
electric<br />
t-o/recov: cat-belly<br />
Aerovironment<br />
2xAveox<br />
1005/6Y<br />
2.04 1.00 1.00<br />
t-o/recov: hand-belly<br />
Fire Scout MQ-8B<br />
Northrop Grumman<br />
7.01<br />
8.22<br />
1430 20 8.00<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
EO, IR, laser<br />
designator, Sar,<br />
GMTI, radar<br />
1x R-R<br />
250-<br />
C20W<br />
t-o/recov: vtol<br />
Global Hawk RQ-4B Block 20<br />
Northrop Grumman<br />
14.53<br />
39.90<br />
12,111 65 36<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
Sigint, MP Rtip<br />
plue extra power<br />
unit, Sar, EO, IR<br />
satcom<br />
1x R-R<br />
AE3007 H<br />
tf<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Hermes 1500<br />
9.39<br />
15<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
EM, TV, Sar<br />
(various<br />
manufacturers)<br />
Heron<br />
8.60<br />
16.61<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
TV & IR, custom<br />
(IAI Tamam)<br />
Elbit Systems<br />
1496 25 24<br />
2x Rotax<br />
914<br />
100 hp<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
IAI Malat<br />
1100 30 50<br />
1x Rotax<br />
914<br />
115 hp<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Killer Bee KB4<br />
Swift Engineering-Raytheon<br />
1.91<br />
3.05<br />
74 10 15<br />
15 hp<br />
Payload: 10 kg<br />
Laser designator,<br />
TV, IR<br />
t-o/recov: cat-net<br />
KZO<br />
Rheinmetall<br />
2.26<br />
3.41<br />
161 11.50 3.50<br />
1x 30 hp<br />
Schrick<br />
SF2-350S<br />
Payload:<br />
Flir<br />
Rheinmetall<br />
Defence<br />
Electronics<br />
t-o/recov: rato-para<br />
n/a<br />
Nibbio<br />
4.07<br />
2.30<br />
Payload: 60 kg<br />
Flir, ESM, IR, TV,<br />
ECM<br />
Orbiter<br />
1.00<br />
2.20<br />
Payload: 1.2<br />
High-resolution<br />
stabilised CCD<br />
(Controp)<br />
Selex Galileo<br />
740 40 0.90<br />
1x Microturbo<br />
TRS<br />
18-1 tf<br />
t-o/recov: cat-para<br />
Aeronautics<br />
6.50 18 3.00<br />
brushless<br />
t-o/recov: cat-para<br />
R90<br />
1.42<br />
2.56<br />
Payload:<br />
Day, IR<br />
n/a<br />
Ranger<br />
4.60<br />
5.70<br />
Payload:<br />
EO, IR<br />
(IAI Tamam)<br />
n/a<br />
Enics<br />
n/a n/a 0.50<br />
1x Enics<br />
M44D<br />
pulse jet<br />
t-o/recov: rato-expen.<br />
Ruag<br />
274 14.8 5.00<br />
1x<br />
Goebler-<br />
Hirth<br />
38 hp<br />
t-o/recov: cat-conv<br />
Seeker II<br />
Denel<br />
n/a<br />
7.00<br />
280 18 10<br />
1x 4-cyl<br />
2-stroke<br />
50 hp<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
Colour camera,<br />
multi-sensor, electronic<br />
survey<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv/<br />
arrestor<br />
Seeker 400<br />
Denel<br />
10<br />
15<br />
n/a 8.00 16<br />
n/a<br />
Payload:<br />
EO & Sar<br />
100 kg<br />
t-o/recov: conv-conv<br />
Skeldar V-150<br />
Saab<br />
4.00<br />
3.30<br />
150 11 n/a<br />
2-stroke<br />
2-piston<br />
55 hp<br />
Payload: 25 kg<br />
Types not yet<br />
defined<br />
t-o/recov: vtol<br />
Skylark I<br />
Elbit Systems<br />
2.20<br />
5.50<br />
n/a 16 2.00<br />
n/a<br />
Payload: n/a<br />
Day or IR<br />
gyro-gimballed,<br />
new-gen night<br />
system<br />
t-o/recov: hand-belly<br />
Sperwer Mk 2<br />
Sagem<br />
3.50<br />
4.20<br />
250 15 20<br />
1x<br />
70 hp<br />
2-str<br />
Payload: 50 kg<br />
EO, Sar, elint,<br />
comint. Modified<br />
structure for<br />
launch with<br />
Robonics cat.<br />
t-o/recov: cat-para<br />
Spy Arrow<br />
Thales<br />
0.60<br />
0.66<br />
25,000 ft, and a longer span for ISR operations<br />
at around 40,000 ft.<br />
Talarion: In a similar category, the EADS<br />
Talarion (formerly Advanced UAV) is a<br />
project powered by two Williams turbofans.<br />
It is to have a 7000-kg gross weight<br />
and a 27.9-metre span. Named after the<br />
winged sandals of Hermes, the Talarion is<br />
a joint French-German-Spanish venture.<br />
EADS was serious rocked on its foundations<br />
by the incredible delays and skyrocketing<br />
development costs of the<br />
A400M transport aircraft and, as a consequence,<br />
many justifiably fear the partner<br />
nations will take a very prudent stance<br />
before giving their formal go-ahead to the<br />
programme in mid-2010 (if this is not further<br />
delayed), which puts the first flight<br />
date of 2013 in doubt.<br />
This is especially true that France,<br />
Germany and Spain will have to stick to<br />
their commitments for 18, 18 and nine<br />
aircraft respectively for the programme<br />
to move ahead. Development would cost<br />
€ 1.5 billion, and the production of 45<br />
drones a further € 1.4 billion.<br />
Mantis: The BAE Systems Mantis is<br />
apparently aimed at providing a more<br />
capable, twin-turboprop alternative to<br />
the single-engined Reaper and Heron TP.<br />
The Mantis was unveiled in mockup form<br />
at Farnborough in 2008 and first flew at<br />
Woomera in Australia on 21 October<br />
2009. A production Mantis could gross as<br />
much as 9000 kg. Compared with the<br />
Talarion, the Mantis offers the immense<br />
advantage of now being a flying platform.<br />
Europe’s principal<br />
success in drone<br />
helicopters is Austria’s<br />
Schiebel Camcopter<br />
S-100, which in 2009<br />
made the first<br />
unmanned flying<br />
demonstration to be<br />
seen at the Paris Air<br />
Show. (Schiebel)<br />
This might have influenced the French<br />
Assembly’s Defence Committee decision<br />
in early 2010 to advocate a ‘rapprochement’<br />
with Britain on that programme –<br />
at least in its intelligence, surveillance<br />
and recce segment.<br />
Illustrated in model<br />
form, the 450-kg BAE<br />
Systems Ampersand<br />
drone gyrocopter is<br />
based on the two-seat<br />
Rotorsport MT-03, and<br />
is aimed at shipbased<br />
operations.<br />
(BAE Systems)<br />
Italy, which has voiced its interest, remains<br />
obscure at this stage. Edelstenne was<br />
adamant to remind that the Neuron<br />
demonstrator programme was on track and<br />
that this aircraft is still scheduled to take to<br />
the air in 2012, suggesting that France may<br />
be willing to support the development of<br />
the Mantis role in exchange for Britain supporting<br />
the Neuron (in place of the Taranis)<br />
for its combat drone.<br />
Patroller: Developed on company funds<br />
by Sagem and initially introduced as a<br />
powered glider-based (Stemme S-10VT),<br />
this drone took to the air at the Finnish<br />
Kemijärvi test range at approximately<br />
the same time as the 2009 Paris Air Show.<br />
As one would expect from a systems<br />
point of view, the Patroller draws extensively<br />
on experience garnered by Sagem<br />
with the Sperwer. During the 2009 test<br />
campaign, according to Sagem, the<br />
Patroller demonstrated its ability to take<br />
off and land autonomously, and to gather<br />
and transmit image information through<br />
its belly-mounted Euroflir 410 turret. The<br />
At the Singapore Air Show in January 2010, Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled the<br />
Bird Eye 650, a development of the Bird Eye 400 that uses a fuel cell to double<br />
endurance to six hours. (IAI)<br />
This has since been clearly confirmed<br />
with Dassault’s boss Charles Edelstenne<br />
during the firm’s annual press conference<br />
in Paris in March. Should such a joint venture<br />
crystallise, BAE Sytems would be in<br />
charge of airframe and guidance, Dassault<br />
for integration and Thales for avionics/payloads.<br />
The eventual role played by<br />
300 km/h maximum speed Patroller is<br />
given as able to operate at a ceiling of<br />
25,000 feet with an autonomy of some 30<br />
hours. The drone is fully compatible with<br />
the Sperwer’s ground equipment.<br />
Falco Evo: Having successfully anchored<br />
its medium Falco on the export market<br />
(launching a system with a foreign customer<br />
is always a remarkable feat), Selex<br />
Galileo has embarked on the natural step<br />
of expanding the capabilities of its drone.<br />
The Italian company is currently carrying<br />
out the aerodynamic studies of the Evo<br />
(an apocope of Evolution) which would<br />
see the aircraft’s wingspan almost double<br />
from 7.20 metres to 14, while the necessary<br />
increased momentum effect of the<br />
tail section would be obtained by stretching<br />
the tail booms by some 50 cm. Thus<br />
redesigned, the Falco Evo would be able<br />
to bite into the tail end of the Male drone<br />
category with a 20-hour endurance and a<br />
20,000-ft ceiling (whether this can be<br />
achieved with the current UEL engine,<br />
however, remains to be seen).<br />
A company programme manager told<br />
Armada that should a partnering cus-<br />
22 armada Compendium Drones 2010
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tomer be found, the Evo could make its<br />
maiden flight in 2011. Open to speculation,<br />
two alternative partners are possible.<br />
Italy, who nearly a decade ago had no<br />
other choice than to fish abroad to<br />
acquire a Male drone (and eventually<br />
selected the Predator), and Pakistan. The<br />
latter was the launch customer of the<br />
Falco (also building it under licence)<br />
but is now also looking at ways of entering<br />
the Male operators’ club and is eyeing<br />
various options. Pakistan makes little<br />
secret about its intention of building<br />
up its know-how in the manufacture of<br />
aircraft to reduce reliance on imports<br />
(as exemplified by the JF-17 fighter aircraft<br />
programme) and to endow itself<br />
with a more capable drone, including a<br />
type that could be armed.<br />
Siva & Milan: Spain, through the Instituto<br />
Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial<br />
(Inta), initially entered the club a few<br />
years ago and has produced the 300-kilo<br />
all-up weight Siva. The type, the construction<br />
of which is largely based on<br />
composite materials, has been undergoing<br />
tests since 2006 and three appear to<br />
have been operated by the Spanish Army.<br />
The Siva system includes a two-man<br />
mobile ground control station, and is a<br />
design which requires a third person to<br />
handle the aircraft on the ground.<br />
Depending on the nature of the terrain,<br />
the Siva can be conventionally rolled for<br />
take-off and landing or catapult launched<br />
and retrieved by parachute and airbags.<br />
The Asio and its<br />
control station come<br />
in a 20-kilo one-man<br />
backpack and are<br />
ready to operate in<br />
five minutes. It is<br />
currently being<br />
evaluated by the<br />
Italian Esercito. (Selex<br />
Galileo)<br />
Inta has since embarked on a more ambitious<br />
project called the Milan (Black<br />
Kite) whose 12.5-metre wingspan should<br />
enable this 900-kilo bird to operate at<br />
21,100 feet.<br />
The graceful Italian Falco is here seen equipped with a gimballed Selex Eost 45<br />
electro-optical turret. (Selex Galileo)<br />
tries. This follows IAI’s earlier success with<br />
the smaller 430-kg Searcher II/III, used by<br />
India, Indonesia, Russia, Singapore, South<br />
Korea and (in Afghanistan) Spain.<br />
The Heron has an endurance of up to<br />
50 hours, although a 24-hour mission is<br />
probably more typical. It may be noted<br />
that the French Air Force version (designated<br />
Sidm and more recently Harfang)<br />
has a Sar/MTI radar and laser designator,<br />
in addition to the baseline electro-optical<br />
turret.<br />
Heron TP: IAI hopes to continue this run<br />
of success with the turboprop-powered,<br />
4650-kg Heron TP, which first flew in 2006<br />
and entered the Israeli Air Force inventory<br />
in February 2010. In promoting the Heron<br />
TP in Germany, IAI has teamed with<br />
Rheinmetall Defence (which provides an<br />
interim service with the Heron) to compete<br />
against the EADS Talarion and the<br />
Reaper, General Atomics being supported<br />
by Diehl BGT Defence.<br />
Pictured on a launcher at Camp Taji in Iraq, the AAI RQ-7B Shadow 200 serves both<br />
the US Army and Marine Corps. Some 116 four-aircraft systems have been ordered for<br />
these services. (US Army)<br />
Israeli Alternatives<br />
Heron: The principal alternative to the<br />
Predator A is the 1250-kg IAI Heron,<br />
which is employed by the Israel Defense<br />
Force and armed forces of 14 other coun-<br />
SDM: In marketing in France and Spain,<br />
the Heron TP is being supported by Dassault<br />
Aviation, Thales and Indra. It is<br />
claimed that for France’s SDM requirement,<br />
three units could be supplied within<br />
four years for € 700 million. However,<br />
things might change completely, with<br />
France’s new stance regarding the Mantis<br />
(see above).<br />
Hermes 450: Elbit Systems is responsible<br />
for Israel’s lighter Male sensor platforms,<br />
its principal success to date being the<br />
550-kg Hermes 450, which has been<br />
exported to Croatia, Georgia, Mexico<br />
and Singapore.<br />
Beginning in 2007, ten Hermes 450s<br />
have been operated by Thales UK on<br />
behalf of the British Army in<br />
Afghanistan. This continues pending<br />
availability of the Hermes 450B Watchkeeper<br />
or WK450.<br />
Watchkeeper: The Watchkeeper differs<br />
from the Hermes 450 in having a shoulder-<br />
(not pylon-) mounted wing, a radarbased<br />
automatic take-off and landing system<br />
and different equipment, including a<br />
Thales I-Master Sar/MTI radar.<br />
24 armada Compendium Drones 2010
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The 54 Watchkeepers for the British<br />
Army are to be built in Britain by the<br />
Elbit/Thales joint venture U-Tacs, in<br />
which Elbit owns a 51% share. The aircraft<br />
had its maiden flight, which lasted<br />
20 minutes, on 14 April 2010 at Parc -<br />
Aberporth – three years after the signature<br />
of the acquisition contract. On the<br />
occasion of this event, Thales UK’s Alex<br />
Dorian said, «2010 is an important year<br />
for the programme as it will also see the<br />
opening of the Watchkeeper training<br />
facility based in Larkhill, and the continuation<br />
of the technical field trials at Parc -<br />
Aberporth». In the wake of this<br />
announcement, Elbit also disclosed that<br />
it had been awarded a $ 70 million contract<br />
to provide logistic support to the<br />
programme over the next three years.<br />
The Watchkeeper is expected to be<br />
weaponised at a later stage, possibly with<br />
the 13-kg Thales LMM Missile. (See<br />
video: www.armada.ch/watchkeeper.)<br />
Hermes 900: One of Elbit’s recent developments<br />
is the 1100-kg Hermes 900,<br />
which first flew on 14 December 2009. It<br />
can carry a 300-kg payload including a<br />
Sar/MTI radar, and has a maximum<br />
endurance of 36 hours.<br />
Hermes 90: The 195-kg Hermes 180 is no<br />
longer the lightest of the Hermes series,<br />
the 85-kg Hermes 90 having been unveiled<br />
at the 2009 Paris Air Show, and flown on 29<br />
September 2009. It forms the basis for the<br />
Storm contender for the US Navy-US<br />
Marine Corps Stuas/Tier II system. The<br />
Storm is promoted by UAS Dynamics, a<br />
joint venture by Elbit Systems of America<br />
Northrop Grumman<br />
has purchased rights<br />
to the Swift<br />
Engineering Killer Bee<br />
4 and renamed it Bat.<br />
Two are shown in<br />
their transport crate.<br />
The design is licensed<br />
to Raytheon for<br />
Stuas/Tier II.<br />
(Northrop Grumman)<br />
and General Dynamics. Reports indicate<br />
that Elbit is also studying a maritime<br />
patrol project in the 2500 kg class, to bridge<br />
the gap to the IAI Heron series.<br />
Aerostar: In a lighter category, the Aeronautics<br />
Defense Systems Aerostar has<br />
recently been selected by Poland for use<br />
in Afghanistan. Other users include<br />
Israel, Angola and the US Navy.<br />
unveiled in 2009, has already been sold to<br />
the German Army and Indian Air Force.<br />
Whereas the Harpy used only passive<br />
radiation homing, the Harop adds an<br />
EO/IR (electro-optical/infrared) sensor<br />
to allow it to be remotely controlled if the<br />
emitter is switched off.<br />
Other Males<br />
It evidently riles many nations that, if<br />
they need a simple ISR Male drone, they<br />
have to import from General Atomics,<br />
IAI or Elbit Systems. To rectify this situation,<br />
several are attempting to develop<br />
their own sensor platforms in the 750 to<br />
1500 kg class.<br />
Examples include (in order of reducing<br />
size) China’s 1500-kg CAC Wing Loong<br />
and BZK-005, Turkey’s 1500-kg TAI Tiha-<br />
A, America’s 1360-kg L-3 Geneva Aerospace<br />
Mobius, Abu Dhabi’s 1250-kg Yabhon<br />
RX-18 and 955-kg Smart Eye (which<br />
is reported to be in production for a foreign<br />
customer), France’s 1050-kg Sagem<br />
Trials of the Aerosonde Mk 4.7 have included automated launches from and<br />
recoveries to the 27-metre M80 Stiletto technology demonstrator, designed and built<br />
by M Ship of San Diego, California. (AAI)<br />
Israel has also been a leader in the<br />
development of loitering, expendable<br />
anti-radar attack drones. Aside from local<br />
use, the 135-kg IAI Harpy has been sold<br />
to Chile, China, India, South Korea and<br />
Turkey. The Harop development with a<br />
23-kg warhead and six-hour endurance,<br />
Patroller (q.v), South Africa’s 1000-kg<br />
Denel Dynamics Bataleur, Britain’s 750-<br />
kg BAE Systems Herti.<br />
India’s DRDO (Defence Research &<br />
Development Organisation) 1800-kg<br />
Rustom is intended to replace the Heron<br />
in Indian service. However, the 20-metre-<br />
With its ability to deliver two 81-mm bombs, the Arcturus T-20 currently being tested by the US Marine Corps and the Navy is de facto<br />
a combat drone. (Arcturus)<br />
26 armada Compendium Drones 2010
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span, twin-engined Rustom prototype<br />
crashed on its maiden flight on 16<br />
November 2009, reportedly after power<br />
was switched off prematurely.<br />
South Korea’s Agency for Defense<br />
Development (ADD) is also developing<br />
a relatively heavy Male drone, with a<br />
gross weight of 4000 kg, a 24-hr<br />
endurance and a 500-kg payload.<br />
Vertical Operation<br />
Since most drones are intended to be<br />
operated from forward areas, their<br />
launch and recovery can be problematic.<br />
However, the provision of catapults and<br />
launch rails and recovery nets and parachutes,<br />
can be avoided by vertical takeoff<br />
and landing, which also has special<br />
attractions in the context of shipboard<br />
operations. A trend has recently developed<br />
in the United States to use the heavier<br />
types for field cargo delivery. The subject<br />
was recently examined by Armada<br />
(see issue 2/2010, page 10).<br />
K-Max: The 5443-kg Unmanned K-Max<br />
has been developed by Team K-Max,<br />
combining Kaman and Lockheed Martin,<br />
to meet a US Marine Corps requirement<br />
for an Immediate Cargo UAS to be<br />
deployed in Afghanistan. Despite the<br />
limiting name, the drone is optionally<br />
manned.<br />
A160T: The only alternative appears to be<br />
the 2950-kg Boeing A160T or YMQ-18A.<br />
The A160T can currently deliver a 450-kg<br />
The Aerovironment<br />
Puma AE (All<br />
Environment) was<br />
developed as a<br />
replacement for the<br />
company’s FQM-<br />
151A Pointer, and<br />
has been adopted by<br />
Ussocom as its Small<br />
UAS. (Aerovironment)<br />
centreline container, but a sling load<br />
capability is being developed.<br />
Failing to make the shortlist were the<br />
1610-kg Boeing ULB (Unmanned Little<br />
Bird) and the 1430-kg Northrop Grumman<br />
MQ-8B Fire Scout.<br />
Fire Scout: The MQ-8B has demonstrated<br />
its ability to deliver autonomously two<br />
containers from lateral pylons.<br />
The Fire Scout was selected by the US<br />
Navy as its Vtuav in 2000, then zero-funded<br />
in 2002, but reselected in 2004. The US<br />
Army selected it in 2003 as its FCS Class<br />
IV system or XM157, but then terminated<br />
the FCS programme. Northrop Grum-<br />
Camcopter S-100: Europe’s principal<br />
verti-lift drone is Austria’s Schiebel Camcopter<br />
S-100, of which over 100 have<br />
been ordered by three customers: the<br />
United Arab Emirates, Ussocom (US<br />
Special Operations Command) and the<br />
German Navy. Originally developed as a<br />
platform for Schiebel’s mine-detection<br />
equipment, it is being used by Centauri<br />
Solutions in a counter-roadside bomb<br />
project called Desert Horn (formerly<br />
Yellow Jacket). It has also been tested<br />
with the Selex Picosar radar and the<br />
Thales Optronics Agile 2 EO/IR turret.<br />
The S-100 has been employed by a Boeing-led<br />
team to demonstrate psyops with<br />
a loudspeaker and leaflet-drop for<br />
Usasoc (US Army Special Operations<br />
Command). It has been trialled from the<br />
ships of the French, Indian, Pakistani and<br />
Singaporean navies.<br />
Skeldar: Saab Aerosystems has recently<br />
expanded its drone helicopter portfolio<br />
by adding to the 200-kg Skeldar the Swiss<br />
UAV’s 75-kg Neo S-300 and 45-kg Koax<br />
X-240.<br />
The recently unveiled Aerovel Flexrotor,<br />
a tail-sitting fixed-wing aircraft with a<br />
large propeller and small torque-compensating<br />
wingtip rotors, is due to fly<br />
around mid-2010.<br />
T-Hawk: The 8.6-kg Honeywell RQ-16<br />
Mav ducted fan drone was selected in<br />
One of the most remarkable drone developments is the micro air vehicle (Mav),<br />
exemplified by the 340-gram Aerovironment Wasp, which carries colour video<br />
cameras and flies for 60 minutes. (Aerovironment)<br />
Micro-electronic machine (Mem)<br />
technology has made possible nano<br />
air vehicles (Nav), illustrated by this<br />
flapping-wing Aerovironment example<br />
funded by Darpa. (Aerovironment)<br />
man, however, is still actively engaged in<br />
running a number of aircraft with the<br />
service (quite apart from the manufacturer’s<br />
own Fire Scout, which is being used<br />
for demonstrations with potential customers<br />
abroad). The US Coast Guard<br />
appears likely to order the Fire Scout, but<br />
is waiting to see which radar the Navy<br />
chooses.<br />
Mule: One of several ducted-fan projects<br />
aimed at anticipated US and Israeli<br />
requirements for front-line casualty<br />
evacuation is the Urban Aeronautics<br />
Mule, which has recently begun hover trials.<br />
The Mule currently grosses 1050 kg,<br />
but a derivative in the 1500-kg class is<br />
also projected, in view of growing interest<br />
in vtol cargo drones.<br />
2006 to be the US Army’s FCS Class I<br />
drone. Although FCS has been abandoned,<br />
deliveries of the gasoline-fuelled<br />
gMav to the Army’s E-IBCT (Early<br />
Infantry Brigade Combat Team) will<br />
begin in 2011 under the designation<br />
XM156 Class I (Block 0).<br />
In 2007 the US Navy ordered 20 YRQ-<br />
16As for roadside bomb detection tests in<br />
Iraq. Those were so successful that the<br />
Navy announced the intention to buy 186<br />
RQ-16 T-Hawk systems with two air vehicles<br />
each. Some 90 systems have so far<br />
been ordered. The RQ-16B Block II<br />
introduces a gimballed electro-optical<br />
sensor and provides reduced noise and<br />
improved reliability. In January 2009<br />
Britain ordered five systems for use by<br />
28 armada Compendium Drones 2010
A relative newcomer<br />
in the field of drone<br />
sensors is this Rafael<br />
Recce-U, which is a<br />
scaled-down<br />
derivative of the<br />
Reccelite pod<br />
originally designed<br />
for the F-16 fighter<br />
aircraft. (Rafael)<br />
and elint gear. Six aircraft, two ground<br />
stations and related equipment can be<br />
packed in a C-130-transportable container.<br />
The 240-kilo Viking has an endurance<br />
of up to twelve hours depending on the<br />
payload carried.<br />
Falco: Launched into production by Pakistan<br />
(this is still an 'undisclosed customer’,<br />
but very much an open secret)<br />
the Selex Galileo Falco currently takes<br />
off at 420 kg from a runway, but the use of<br />
a catapult (presumably Finland’s Robonic<br />
system) has now been cleared, to meet<br />
a potential Italian requirement. In terms<br />
of payload systems, the Falco is typically<br />
offered with an Eost 45 electro-optical<br />
turret (Selex is quite open to integrate<br />
other systems), but the range of sensors<br />
has been expanded. The firm’s Picosar<br />
Aesa radar has already been integrated<br />
and the Gabbiano maritime surveillance<br />
the British Army for the same role in<br />
Afghanistan.<br />
Asio: This interesting development<br />
comes from Italy, with Utri providing the<br />
airframe and Selex Galileo in charge of<br />
systems integration and marketing. An<br />
electrically powered verti-lift drone, the<br />
Asio is evidently aimed at urban warfare<br />
or engagements of similar nature, but<br />
incorporates one or two interesting features.<br />
First of all, it is able to carry two<br />
payloads that can be indifferently mounted<br />
at the top or at the bottom of the centre<br />
body pod, but being secured in place<br />
with a bayonet mechanism, their positions<br />
can be swapped depending on mission<br />
requirements. These payloads<br />
include one 7.5 to 13.5µ vanadium oxide<br />
microbolometer infrared sensor on the<br />
one hand, and a day-night camera with<br />
automatic switchover to night mode<br />
under 2.5 lux intensity on the other.<br />
The second important feature is its<br />
’perching mode‘, by virtue of which it is<br />
able to land on a vantage point, shut<br />
down its motor and silently scan around<br />
for four hours before returning home,<br />
which it can do at a top speed of 24 knots.<br />
Its flight autonomy is over 30 minutes<br />
while its line-of-sight datalink reaches<br />
out to twelve km.<br />
Although the Asio is still under development,<br />
Galileo informed the authors<br />
that it had now reached a good maturity<br />
level, recently having been focused on<br />
robustness, ’flight behaviour‘ and batteries.<br />
The Asio is a one-man affair, which<br />
can be put into operation within five minutes<br />
from pulling it out of its backpack<br />
together with its control station (including<br />
datalink and telemetry systems). The<br />
entire package weighs a mere 20 kilos.<br />
Medium Fixed-Wing<br />
The multiplicity of medium fixed-wing<br />
drones allows mention of only a few<br />
recent illustrative examples (see our foldout<br />
table herewith for more details).<br />
Hunter: Just below the one-tonne mark,<br />
the US Army’s 885-kg Northrop Grumman<br />
MQ-5B Hunter has an airframe<br />
built by IAI-subsidiary Stark Aerospace,<br />
which is also responsible for marketing<br />
the Heron in North America. The MQ-5B<br />
is now cleared to use the Viper Strike<br />
missile.<br />
Viking 400: Following an order placed by<br />
the US Special Operations Command<br />
last year (2009), L-3 started rolling out its<br />
first production Viking 400s in early 2010.<br />
So far the contract, to the tune of $ 250<br />
million, covers the delivery of six aircraft<br />
and two ground stations. The Viking 400<br />
is able to carry up to 40 kilos worth of<br />
payloads, including electro-optical, sigint<br />
The Hermes 90, also<br />
known as the Storm for<br />
marketing purposes in the<br />
United States, is equipped<br />
with a new version of the<br />
Micro Compass ball now<br />
known as the Enhanced<br />
Micro Compass. The major<br />
reconfiguration now adds<br />
both CCD day and infrared<br />
sensors (the latter with<br />
continuous zoom), mobile<br />
target tracking and a laser<br />
tracker – all in a new threeaxis<br />
stabilised configu -<br />
ration. (Elbit Systems)<br />
Russia’s A-Level Aerosystems designs<br />
and produces the Zala family of<br />
drones weighing less than 100 kg. Its<br />
highly successful flying wing series<br />
includes this 4.2-kg Zala 421-04M. (A-<br />
Level Aerosystems)<br />
radar with a synthetic aperture capability<br />
should follow suit this year (2010). Other<br />
sensors identified as ’multispectral‘ to<br />
collect pollution factors are also being<br />
considered.<br />
Pakistan has purchased five Falco systems,<br />
each with four air vehicles, and<br />
licence-manufacture will begin shortly.<br />
Shadow 200: Pakistan is also to be supplied<br />
with twelve AAI RQ-7B Shadow<br />
200s. The 170-kg RQ-7 entered service<br />
with the US Army in 2002 and with the<br />
US Marine Corps in 2007. A total of 116<br />
systems, each with four aircraft, have so<br />
far been ordered for these services. In<br />
2008 the US Army approved an upgrade,<br />
which included long-span (6.1-metre)<br />
wings, an engine burning JP-8, increased<br />
fuel capacity and lithium batteries.<br />
Sentry HP: In the same weight class, the<br />
190-kg DRS Technologies Sentry HP features<br />
a carbon fibre airframe and a<br />
retractable landing gear, giving the sensor<br />
turret an unobstructed field-of-view.<br />
I-View: The 160-kg IAI I-View 150 is one<br />
of the three types of Israeli drones purchased<br />
in 2009 by Russia, the others<br />
being IAI’s 430-kg Searcher II and fivekg<br />
Bird Eye 400.<br />
Stuas/Tier II: The most important contest<br />
in the sub-100 kg category is the US<br />
Navy/US Marine Corps Stuas/Tier II programme<br />
for a drone with an endurance of<br />
ten hours. It will initially have EO/IR sen-<br />
30 armada Compendium Drones 2010
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sors, laser designation and communication<br />
relay facilities. Later it will carry sigint<br />
equipment and deliver lightweight<br />
precision munitions. Some 56 systems are<br />
planned, each with three air vehicles.<br />
Service entry is due in late FY12.<br />
The principal options are the 85-kg<br />
UAS Dynamics Storm (Hermes 90), the<br />
77-kg Raytheon/Swift Engineering Killer<br />
Bee 4, the 59-kg Boeing/Insitu Integrator<br />
and the much lighter 24.9-kg AAI<br />
Aerosonde Mk4.7.<br />
T-20: The latest entry from Arcturus, the T-<br />
20, tested in 2009 is now in production and<br />
being flight tested by the US Marine<br />
Corps and the US Navy, since it has the<br />
ability to drop payloads from its underwing<br />
pylons (dropping tests of Snowflake<br />
autonomously guided parafoils developed<br />
by the Naval Postgraduate School have<br />
also been carried out). At time of writing,<br />
the two aforementioned services had<br />
taken delivery of five units. The T-20 can<br />
carry a pair of 81-mm munitions, which<br />
effectively qualifies it as a combat drone.<br />
(See video: www.armada.ch/T-20.)<br />
Launched from a portable pneumatic<br />
catapult, the aircraft is designed to belly<br />
land. This means that the electro-optical<br />
sensor, typically a Cloud Cap T-2, is<br />
retractable. Built with composite materials,<br />
the 75-kilo take-off weight T-20 typically<br />
has an endurance of 16 hours with a<br />
16-kilo payload. For more technical<br />
details, please refer to our centre foldout<br />
table.<br />
Hand-launched<br />
Hand-launched drones are illustrated by<br />
Aerovironment’s 6.35-kg Puma AE (All<br />
Small synthetic aperture radars, like<br />
this Selex Galileo Picosar in the nose<br />
of the Falco, are opening up an<br />
entirely new boulevard of applications<br />
to smaller drones. (Selex Galileo)<br />
Controp has recently<br />
tested its Stamp turret<br />
installed onboard a<br />
six-kilo Innocon Micro<br />
Falcon drone. The<br />
stabilised turret<br />
weighs less than one<br />
kilo. (Innocon)<br />
Environment) and 1.9-kg RQ-11B<br />
Raven-B.<br />
Raven: Over 900 Ravens are currently<br />
being operated in Iraq and Afghanistan. It<br />
is used by the armed forces of Australia,<br />
the Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy,<br />
Lebanon, Netherlands, Spain, the UK and<br />
US. The US Air Force has purchased 108<br />
Ravens to replace the Desert Hawk. The<br />
Pentagon’s FY11 budget request is for<br />
312 Ravens for the US Army and 16 for<br />
the US Marine Corps.<br />
Puma: The Fuel Cell Puma (now under<br />
development), using a Protonex Technology<br />
fuel cell and a lithium-ion battery, has<br />
istry’s many years of neglect. In 2005<br />
the Vega group, including Kulon in<br />
Moscow and Luch in Rybinsk, was given<br />
the lead in drone developments. Luch is<br />
developing the 60-kg BLA-05 Tipchak or<br />
9M62 to support rocket artillery. The<br />
Defence Ministry is also funding the 500-<br />
kg Kulon BLA-06 Aist and the 35-kg<br />
Luch BLA-07.<br />
The St Petersburg-based Transas has<br />
flown several drones, notably the 95-kg<br />
Dozor-4 (or Dozor-100) and the 640-kg<br />
Dozor-3 (or -600). Irkut is developing a<br />
range of designs, from the lightweight<br />
three-kg Irkut-2M and the 8.5-kg Irkut-<br />
10 to the 200-kg Irkut-200. The optionally<br />
piloted 850-kg Irkut 800 is based on the<br />
Stemme S-10VT motor glider (as is<br />
France’s 1050-kg Sagem Patroller).<br />
In the hand-launched category,<br />
A-Level Aerosystems has private-ventured<br />
the 2.1-kg flying-wing Zala 421-08.<br />
This is used by the Russian Ministry of<br />
Interior Affairs, and is the first Russian<br />
drone to be produced in substantial numbers<br />
in the last 20 years. A-Level also<br />
makes the 4.2-kg Zala 421-04M and the<br />
18-kg Zala 421-16. Its helicopter range<br />
includes the 12.4-kg Zala 421-06 and<br />
Unfortunately, the necessary print screening process does not do those pictures justice.<br />
Nevertheless, the high-definition view taken by a Star Safire HD of the same area<br />
(right) still reveals details like lamp posts (arrows) that are lost on the standardresolution<br />
picture at left. (Flir Systems)<br />
already achieved an endurance of over<br />
nine hours. It may be noted that the US<br />
Naval Research Laboratory’s 17-kg fuel<br />
cell-powered Ion Tiger made a flight of 23<br />
hr 17 min in October 2009.<br />
Wasp: Micro air vehicles (Mavs) are now<br />
available, thanks to lighter batteries and<br />
sensors. The principal example is the 340-<br />
gram Aerovironment Wasp III, which has<br />
been adopted by both the US Air Force<br />
and the US Army, the latter having a<br />
requirement for 22,000 Wasp systems.<br />
The US Air Force has so far purchased<br />
442 Wasps. The Israeli alternative is the<br />
450-gram IAI Mosquito.<br />
Nano air vehicles (Nav) exploit Mem<br />
(micro-electronic machine) technology to<br />
achieve weights of ten grams or less, and<br />
wingspans below 7.5 cm. In this category<br />
Darpa is funding development of the flapping-wing<br />
Aerovironment Mercury.<br />
Russia<br />
Special mention of Russian drone developments<br />
is arguably justified, following<br />
the hiatus created by the Defence Minthe<br />
95-kg Zala 421-02, Russia’s heaviest<br />
vtol drone.<br />
Extreme Endurance<br />
The mention of tethered aerostats may<br />
be questionable in a survey dedicated to<br />
mobile systems, but they actually fill a<br />
role in long-term local-area surveillance<br />
that cannot be achieved by systems that<br />
regularly need to land. Low-cost and<br />
offering extreme endurance, tethered<br />
lighter-than-air helium-filled aerostats<br />
can currently stay aloft for up to a month.<br />
However, they are clearly limited in operating<br />
location and altitude and thus in<br />
sensor range.<br />
Reap: One example is the Reap (Rapidly<br />
Elevated Aerostat Platform), a joint<br />
US Army/Navy development using a<br />
Bosch Aerospace 9.5M aerostat flown at<br />
300 ft. The Raytheon/Tcom Raid (Rapid<br />
Aerostat Initial Deployment) is used by<br />
the US Army in Afghanistan and Iraq.<br />
The Raid is based on the Tcom 17M aerostat,<br />
flown at 1000 ft. The US Army also<br />
employs the Lockheed Martin PTDS<br />
32 armada Compendium Drones 2010
Even light helicopter drones, like this Schiebel Camcopter S-100 and its side-pylon<br />
mounted Picosar, are now able to join the ‘Sar League’ in which membership was<br />
hitherto restricted to the larger Male and Hale drones. (Schiebel)<br />
(Persistent Threat Detection System),<br />
with the company’s 56K aerostat flown<br />
at 2500 ft.<br />
Tars: Lockheed Martin is also responsible<br />
for the US Air Force Tars (Tethered<br />
Aerostat Radar System), using the company’s<br />
420K aerostat, with an envelope<br />
made by ILC Dover. Flown at 15,000 ft, it<br />
gives the Lockheed Martin L-88 radar a<br />
range of 370 km.<br />
Marts: Employed for communication<br />
relay, the Marts (Marine Airborne Re-<br />
Transmission System) was developed by<br />
Darpa for use by the US Marine Corps in<br />
Iraq. The Tcom 32M aerostat takes a 225-<br />
kg payload to 3000 ft, giving a radius of<br />
125 km.<br />
Jlens: A major advance in aerostats will<br />
be achieved by the Raytheon/Tcom Jlens<br />
(Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile<br />
Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System),<br />
which – in combination with the US<br />
Army’s IAMD (Integrated Air and Missile<br />
Defense) – is intended to provide<br />
deployed forces with the detection and<br />
tracking of potential threats and targets,<br />
including large-calibre rockets, drones<br />
and moving surface vehicles.<br />
The Jlens will employ the Tcom 74M<br />
aerostat, which can carry a 1600-kg payload<br />
to a normal operating height of 10,000<br />
ft, with an endurance of one month. The<br />
74M is designed to operate in 130 km/h<br />
winds, and survive winds of 170 km/h.<br />
Each Jlens system (or ‘orbit’), of which<br />
14 are planned, will employ two aerostats,<br />
one with a surveillance radar and the other<br />
with a fire control radar for the new interceptor<br />
missile, which will have a range of<br />
up to 400 km. The Jlens programme was<br />
motivated by the failure of US forces to<br />
detect the five HY-2/C-201 Silkworm<br />
cruise missiles fired at their positions in<br />
Kuwait during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It<br />
is currently proceeding on the basis of a<br />
$ 1.4 billion design and demonstration contract,<br />
awarded to prime contractor<br />
Raytheon. This contract includes the delivery<br />
of two Jlens orbits.<br />
The decision on Jlens low-rate initial<br />
production is now due in FY12, and the<br />
last orbit is to be delivered in 2019. The<br />
programme is expected to total around<br />
$ 6.4 billion, each orbit costing approximately<br />
$ 360 million.<br />
<strong>Sensors</strong><br />
Long gone are the days when the drone’s<br />
primary observation weaponry consisted<br />
of downward shooting wet-film still and<br />
cine cameras whose precious booty had<br />
to be laboratory processed before being<br />
handed over to the analysts. Digital cameras<br />
came of age in the early 1990s and<br />
with them the means to transmit live (or<br />
almost live) imagery down to base. Now<br />
video cameras easily fit into a thimble<br />
and are used in the cheapest of drones,<br />
the body and wing of which are carved<br />
out of polystyrene foam, which makes<br />
them almost expendable.<br />
After the wet film era, and together<br />
with the inception of their electronic<br />
counterparts, the next significant step<br />
that was afforded by the miniaturisation<br />
of electronics was stabilisation, which<br />
itself led to what are commonly referred<br />
to now as stabilised turrets, or balls.<br />
Granted, the ‘older’ cameras could be<br />
slewed, but hardly locked on – particularly<br />
in space-restricted aircraft like drones,<br />
including the larger types.<br />
With stabilisation came a host of amenities.<br />
First and foremost of course, are clearer<br />
pictures, since not only is the relative<br />
displacement of the ground target relative<br />
to the platform compensated, but so are<br />
the bumps, leaps and side-slips of the aircraft<br />
in low-altitude turbulent air.<br />
Secondly, proper stabilisation came to<br />
the rescue of lock-on. Lock-on (which<br />
means that, upon command from the<br />
ground operator, the camera will keep<br />
staring at a given spot) is obtained by an<br />
electronic analysis of the pixels in the<br />
cross-hairs area. If the ‘target’ is a darker<br />
spot and the movement of the camera’s<br />
cross-hairs slips into an area of brighter<br />
neighbouring pixels, the processor will<br />
send commands to the platform to drive<br />
the camera back to its original darker spot.<br />
If one imagines the number of electronic<br />
commands that such a procedure requires,<br />
say in one second, one can just as easily<br />
understand the benefits derived from a<br />
camera that is readily ‘kept still’, because<br />
there is a limit (made up of contrast threshold<br />
and judder speed) beyond which the<br />
lock-on system will simply give up.<br />
Finally, stabilisation allows one to<br />
obtain a permanent and accurate reading<br />
of the three-dimensional geographical<br />
co-ordinates of the spot the crosshairs are<br />
locked onto and, datalink allowing, these<br />
and the pictures are received and read<br />
live on the ground. Not only does this<br />
enable target data to be forwarded to<br />
command for an artillery intervention, or<br />
to a bomber aircraft, it also allows the<br />
drone to directly and steadily illuminate<br />
the target with a laser beam (if the turret<br />
is so equipped) to provide a spot for surface-<br />
or air-launched laser-guided<br />
weapons to home onto. The ultimate<br />
refinement is what Flir, for example,<br />
terms «Geo-lock», meaning that should<br />
the ball be locked onto an object and that<br />
an obstacle (a tower, chimney or tall<br />
building) temporarily cross the aiming<br />
path, the system will anticipate the platform’s<br />
motion to immediately and seamlessly<br />
re-lock onto the original target<br />
once the obstacle is cleared.<br />
Evidently, reaction times and the number<br />
of sensors housed are what make the<br />
difference between the various systems<br />
available on the market, but also of<br />
course, their size and cost. As usual, it is<br />
the mission that drives the requirement,<br />
which in turn drives the type of stabilised<br />
platform and hence the type and size of<br />
drone that is finally required.<br />
The most complete stabilised turrets are<br />
those that can simultaneously house a day<br />
and low-light camera (CCD), an infrared<br />
camera, a rangefinder and a laser target<br />
designator. The leaders in the field of drone<br />
Northrop Grumman has<br />
completed flight testing of<br />
its Vader, a ground target<br />
moving indicator synthetic<br />
aperture radar that is able<br />
to detect slow moving small<br />
objects such as men and<br />
animals walking over a<br />
wide area. (Northrop<br />
Grumman)<br />
34 armada Compendium Drones 2010
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turrets are Elbit, Flir, L-3 <strong>Wescam</strong>, Thales,<br />
Raytheon, Sagem, Selex Galileo, Tamam<br />
and Zeiss (in South Africa), but mention<br />
must also be made of Cloud Cap. Better<br />
known for its flight management systems<br />
and inertial measurement sensors, this firm<br />
also produces a range of small and lightweight<br />
turrets called Tase. Cloud Cap’s<br />
Tase, for example, is used in a belly<br />
retractable mount inside the Arcturus T-20<br />
belly-landing light drone.<br />
Another, and perhaps less publicised<br />
company specialising in lightweight stabilised<br />
payloads, is Controp, whose 990-<br />
gram Stamp stabilised turret was recently<br />
tested onboard a six-kilo Innocon<br />
Micro Falcon in Israel. The Stamp is<br />
available as the day vision D-Stamp and<br />
the night vision U-Stamp.<br />
There is no ending to progress. A major<br />
breakthrough was made by Flir, which<br />
unveiled its new high-definition filming<br />
turret at the 2009 Paris Air show. Unsurprisingly<br />
known as the Star Safire HD, this<br />
ball has (to our knowledge) not yet been<br />
officially adopted for drone use, but its performance<br />
has to be seen to be believed. Not<br />
only can it allow an observer to perfectly<br />
spot a man at a range of well over 17 km, it<br />
also offers a perfect image correlation<br />
between its different sensors. In other<br />
words, whatever the zooming factor in use,<br />
one can switch from infrared to colour and<br />
Apart from being<br />
renowned for its autopilots,<br />
Cloud Cap has also<br />
developed a number of<br />
lightweight gyrostabilised<br />
turrets. This T2, for<br />
example, is the largest and<br />
similar to the one fitted to<br />
the Arcturus T-20 (quod<br />
vide). It has a 200° slew<br />
rate and weighs 2.27 kilos.<br />
(Cloud Cap)<br />
instantly obtain the same picture in the<br />
other mode (and vice-versa) without<br />
requiring any reframing or adjustment. It is<br />
instantaneous, clean and sharp. As for definition,<br />
the results are staggering, provided<br />
one uses a high-definition display.<br />
On a much simpler scale, images can<br />
also be improved to simplify their<br />
exploitation. Z Microsystems, for example,<br />
has developed an algorithm which,<br />
applied to drone footage, is said to dramatically<br />
enhance the operator’s ability<br />
to extract information.<br />
The next technological leap in terms<br />
of drone sensors came in the form of the<br />
radar. Here too, the acceptance of these<br />
devices by drones results from their<br />
miniaturisation, but not exclusively: the<br />
main challenge came under the name of<br />
power – and not only the wattage<br />
required, but also the amount of juice the<br />
onboard generator could produce. Drone<br />
AAI 5<br />
Armada International 31, 35<br />
AUVSI<br />
C3<br />
AV (Aerovironment)<br />
C4<br />
Defensys 2010 33<br />
DRS Technologies 7<br />
Elbit Systems 13<br />
Honeywell 25<br />
Index to Advertisers<br />
radars have been around for a while now,<br />
particularly for maritime surveillance,<br />
but the emerging trend is the synthetic<br />
aperture type. Many will remember the<br />
truly amazing frames (both in ground<br />
mapping and moving target indicator<br />
form) that the prototype of the Northrop<br />
Grumman J-Stars (a non-solicited development,<br />
it should be reminded) ushered<br />
to the Gulf area produced in 1990. Well,<br />
almost similar results – albeit at shorter<br />
ranges – can now be obtained from a<br />
Selex Galileo Picosar installed on rotarywing<br />
aircraft as small as the Schiebel<br />
Camcopter S-100. Quite naturally the<br />
same Picosar can also be used onboard<br />
the Selex Falco fixed-wing drone. The<br />
advantage of the radar is twofold: it ‘drills’<br />
through night and bad weather, and its<br />
moving target indicator function allows<br />
the observer to spot an object (car or person)<br />
that would otherwise be difficult to<br />
perceive at long range.<br />
Talking of moving target indicators, and<br />
to conclude this overview on sensor novelties,<br />
Northrop Grumman has recently<br />
announced that it had completed testing of<br />
its Vader onboard a Twin Otter. Developed<br />
for long-endurance drones, this radar has<br />
demonstrated its ability to detect individuals<br />
and animals walking over a wide area.<br />
Unsurprisingly, the Vader programme is<br />
sponsored by the Joint Improvised Explosive<br />
Device Defeat Office. Roadside bomb<br />
detection is the subject of an article in<br />
Armada 3/2010 page 24 – and indeed one<br />
of the best ways of finding hidden roadside<br />
bombs is to first track those who emplace<br />
them. Better still is to be able to track these<br />
people on their way back in the hope of discovering<br />
their base. Drones and Sar radars<br />
could soon prove to be a vital tandem in<br />
this unique form of warfare, which sees a<br />
very odd confrontation between rudimentary<br />
and sophisticated techniques. a<br />
L-3 Communications 11, 13<br />
Northrop Grumman<br />
C2<br />
RADA 31<br />
Raytheon 15-17<br />
Saab 27<br />
Sagem 9<br />
Schiebel 29<br />
Trimble 23<br />
Compendium Drones 2010<br />
Supplement to issue 3/2010<br />
Volume 34, Issue No.3, June/July 2010<br />
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36<br />
armada Compendium Drones 2010
It’s so big<br />
we had to add a day.<br />
24–27 August 2010<br />
Colorado Convention Center<br />
Denver, CO, USA<br />
We may be outgrowing convention centers, but fortunately there are<br />
still more days in the week to grow into. That’s what happens when<br />
you fill 392,000 square feet with more than 350 exhibits, indoor<br />
air, ground and maritime demonstration areas, indoor static<br />
space, 140 presentations and daily networking events. Add more<br />
than 5,000 attendees from the world over and the only way to do it<br />
all is to add a day. So we did.<br />
Be there, when the world of unmanned systems comes together.<br />
symposium.auvsi.org