Preview - UVS Info

A scale of
developments
Italy’s UAV industry is the home to one of Europe’s longest-established makers of
aerial targets and UAVs, write Tim Mahon and Bernard Fitzsimons.
Now part of the Alenia Difesa subsidiary Galileo Avionica,
Meteor Costruzionie Aeronautiche ed Electroniche has
specialised in UAV systems since the early 1960s, designing
and building both high performance aerial targets and a
variety of surveillance and reconnaissance systems. Turning
from piloted aircraft and gliders to unmanned target drones
in 1958, the range expanded to include reconnaissance
vehicles in the mid-1970s, initially with the Mirach 100
turbojet-powered reconnaissance UAV counterpart to the
Mirach 70 target. Meteor was also involved in the
production of Canadair CL-89 surveillance drones for the
Italian army.
In the 1980s Meteor developed the Mirach 20 UAV.
Used by the Italian Army (in which it was known as the
Condor) and the Navy (Pelican), the Mirach 20 was
succeeded by the all-composite Mirach 26, which has been
operational since 1999 in the Italian Army, though it could
not be deployed to Kosovo in 1999-2000 because the
associated ground station was not ready. As part of the
SORAO (sottosistema di sorveglianza del campo di
battaglia, or battlefield surveillance and target acquisition
subsystem) element of the Italian armed forces’ CATRIN
(Campale di Transmissioni ed Informazioni, or field
communications and information system) system, Mirach
26 is used for target acquisition and localisation as well as
the provision of real time electro-optical images from the
battlefield. It has a GPS navigation system, a maximum
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speed of 220 km/h and an endurance of more than six
hours.
Recently, Meteor has initiated development of the
piston-powered Falco tactical MALE UAV, as a follow-on to
the Mirach 26. The Falco will have a maximum speed of 40
m/sec with a payload of 70 kg and an endurance between
eight and 14 hours depending on the payload. It can use a
runway for takeoff and landing or launch from a ramp, and
the choice of payload includes an integrated multi-sensor
platform, forward-looking infra-red, colour television and
laser rangefinder. Most systems are redundant for
maximum survivability. Meteor is also working on a multifuel
engine version for added flexibility.
The latest version of the Mirach 100 is the 100/5
high-performance aerial target used in several missile
development programmes and for training. An
interoperable counterpart is the Nibbio high speed, low
altitude, deep penetration reconnaissance UAV. Under
development for surveillance and EW operations in highrisk
environments, Nibbio has a maximum speed of Mach
0.86 and can penetrate up to 380 km with a payload of
70 kg. It can carry TV cameras, infra-red imagers and
electronic support measures (ESM) or electronic
countermeasures (ECM) payloads and, in common
with the Mirach 100/5, can be ship-, air- or groundlaunched
and recovered from sea or land. It is being
pitched to meet both Air Force and Army requirements
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and is due to fly for the first time late in 2003.
The Italian Army uses the Mirach 150 high-subsonic
low-wing drone for low altitude deep penetration aerial
reconnaissance missions over hazardous or heavily
defended targets. Launched from a zero-length ramp and
recovered by parachute, it carries an electro-optical sensor
package including infrared line scanner and panoramic
cameras.
In 1999 Meteor signed a teaming agreement with
California-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems
covering a joint response to the Ministerio della Difesa’s
surveillance UAV requirements. General Atomics’
contribution was the Predator UAV, along with software
and systems integration, while Meteor was to act as the
integrated logistic support hub, contributing hardware,
assembly and local support. The result, two years later in
2001, was a $55 million contract for the supply of one
Predator system to the Italian Air Force. The contract
reportedly covers five aircraft to be assembled in Italy,
including one for training, plus four Wescam electrooptical/infra-red
sensors, a ground station, line of sight data
link terminal, spares, support and training. Also included is
an optional $8 million buy of a sixth air vehicle and two
General Atomics Lynx synthetic aperture radar (SAR)
sensors to support all-weather operations. Production was
to start immediately for delivery within nine months. In
March 2002 the Italian Air Force formed the 1st Gruppo
Velivoli Teleguidati (UAV squadron) at Amendola air base to
operate the Predator, with a full operational capability
planned for 2005.
Italian tasking for the Predator is likely to be varied and
not limited to purely military missions. The original
requirement for a long endurance UAV was prompted by
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Left: Preditor (General Atomics
Aeronautical Systems, USA)
Below:Mirach 26 (Meteor, Italy)
Italy’s recognition of its long, vulnerable coastline and its
proximity to one of Europe’s most troubled regions, the
Balkans. But as the procurement programme unfolded, it
became apparent that Predator could fulfil roles not only in
military reconnaissance but also in drug interdiction,
immigration surveillance and counter-smuggling roles. In
addition, it is apparent that Predator provides the Italian
military with a potential weapons-carrying aerial platform
for future exploitation. Interestingly, the UAV is undergoing
an airworthiness certification process with the Italian civil
aviation authority, ENAC – a process similar to that
undergone by Sperwer in the Netherlands, though not
quite as severe or groundbreaking in nature as its Dutch
counterpart.
There are other organisations involved in the design,
development, production and deployment of UAVs in Italy.
Beyond the current procurements, as part of the Italian
Aerospace Research Programme (PRO.R.A.) the Italian
Aerospace Research Centre (CIRA) is developing what is
planned to be a series of UAVs to carry out flight
demonstrations of aeronautical technologies. The impetus
here comes from a growing scientific interest in the use of
UAVs, and the increasing feasibility of their application to
scientific and civil as well as military purposes, as a result of
advances in relevant fields, from aerodynamics to advanced
structures, materials and control systems.
The programme, accordingly, emphasises scientific
rather than military applications, though there is

considerable attention paid to engineering UAVs
to better fulfil the so-called D3 (Dirty, Dull,
Dangerous) missions. CIRA lists potential uses of
UAVs as including environmental monitoring,
communications relay, territorial and coastal
surveillance and atmospheric data collection.
The principal areas of technology on which the research
programme will focus are aerodynamics and aeroelasticity,
innovative structures and fabrication
technologies, guidance, navigation and control systems,
data handling and communication systems, propulsion
systems and payload.
One especially promising programme focuses on the
development of a hingeless wing, without flaps or slats
but using Shape Memorising Alloys (SMAs) to deform
wing structures to expand the flight envelope. The
overall technology programme goes by the designation
UAV-TEC, while the various flying development air
vehicles are scheduled for testing in 2003 (UAV-0), 2005
(CR/X2), 2008 (CR/X3) and 2010 (CR/X4), with a
continuous flying demo programme running from 2005-
2010.
The academic world also has its part to play in this
field. The University of Pisa, with European Union
funding, is working on a 46 metre wingspan HALE UAV
capable of flying at 20,000 metres and on extremely
long endurance missions facilitated by ultra-efficient
power cells that store power generated by on-board
solar panels. Known as Heliplat, the air vehicle has a
target unit cost of around a5 million, and is intended to
fulfil a number of roles, including telecommunications
relay, seismic or environmental monitoring, atmospheric
pollution and climatological or meteorological
Left: Falco (Meteor, Italy)
Below: Nibbo (Meteor, Italy)
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monitoring, agricultural surveillance and research – the
list of potential applications seems to be limited only by
the enthusiasm of the UAV’s proponents.
There is already at least one enterprising firm in Italy
(Gideon Czaczkes Consultancy of Padua) that offers
environmental services using UAVs as monitoring and
surveillance platforms – a situation that may become less
of a rarity as the technological and fiscal benefits of
projects such as Heliplat flow through to UAV
production and employment.
At the University of Catania, the Systems and Control
Group at the Department of Electrical Engineering is
engaged in a number of robotics programmes, many of
which have applications to UAV development. Principal
among these programmes are a series of developments
aimed at enhancing real-time motion control, telemetry
and tele-operation algorithms for robotic vehicles of all
types, including micro-UAVs, for a wide range of
applications including – slightly self-interestedly for the
Catania region – vulcanology!
UAVs are alive and well and living in many parts of
Italy. Some of the plans and aspirations are far-reaching,
with long-term benefits and consequences. The
immediate future, however, is largely focused on
Predator as the ‘proof of concept’ – not of the vehicle
itself, but rather of the wider role that UAVs can come
to play in a modern, industrialised society. ■
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