Sensors - Wescam

Compendium 

by 

Drones 

Europe Wakens to Males 

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INTERNATIONAL: The trusted source for defence technology information since 1976 

Europe Wakens 

to Males 

The Elbit Hermes 900 has recently been 

ordered by the Israel Defense Forces 

Drones are the most upwardly dynamic aerospace sector, with growth rates that 

manufacturers of traditional aircraft can only dream of. The Pentagon’s FY11 

budget request for drones is only 7.4% of the aircraft total, but this represents 

a solid $ 4.1 billion. The Teal Group’s 2010 market study estimates the current 

worldwide expenditure on unmanned air vehicles at $ 4.9 billion. 

Eric H. Biass 

and Roy Braybrook 

Progress is being made across a broad 

spectrum of drone-relevant technologies, 

from stealthy airframes to 

low Reynolds Number (less than 15,000) 

aerodynamics, flapping wings, slowed 

helicopter rotors, ducted fans, foliagepenetrating 

radars, fuel cells and heavy 

fuel engines. 

Expanding Capabilities 

Aside from providing ISR (intelligence, 

surveillance and reconnaissance) and target 

facilities, drones are already 

employed in roles such as electronic and 

counter-mine warfare and (in the form of 

GPS-guided parafoils) for front-line 

resupply. Requirements are being developed 

for casualty evacuation by drones 

and for cargo deliveries by (self-recovering) 

unmanned helicopters. 

Tests using General Atomics MQ-9 

Reapers are investigating the prospects for 

such air vehicles detecting and tracking 

cruise and ballistic missiles, through triangulated 

infrared sensing. The development 

of the Ucav (unmanned combat air vehicle) 

is this year being advanced significantly, 

as the US Navy’s Northrop Grumman 

X-47B or Ucas-D makes its maiden flight, 

with carrier trials scheduled for 2012. 

Other important new operational concepts 

include the aerial refuelling of 

drones, which Boeing hopes to explore 

with the X-45C Phantom Ray, due to fly 

before the end of 2010. The US Air Force 

plans to refuel future high-performance 

drones from existing tankers. 

In the long term, the US Air Force sees 

a family of large multi-role drones (MQ- 

L) with duties including tanking. The 

MQ-La of around 2020 will be primarily 

devoted to Sigint duties, with potential to 

replace Awacs and JStars. The later MQ- 

Lb will add transport and tanker roles. 

The MQ-Lc will take in global strike. 

Air and Sub Launches 

The launching of small ‘attritable’ drones 

from conventional aircraft and larger, 

more expensive drones is being evaluated. 

An early example of an air-launched 

small drone (AL-Suas) was the Naval 

Research Laboratory’s air-sampling 

Finder, tested from a General Atomics 

Predator in 2002. Another was the 

Raytheon Silenteyes, ejected from an 

Ale-50 towed decoy launcher on an MQ- 

9 during a test in 2004. More recently, in a 

demonstration for the US Army, a 

Northrop Grumman MQ-8B deployed 

ground robots. 

Originally developed by Advanced 

Ceramics Research (which has since 

been taken over by BAE Systems), the 

armada Compendium Drones 2010 

5.9-kg tandem-wing Coyote has recently 

been launched from the sonobuoy tube 

of a Lockheed Martin P-3. The Coyote is 

an electrically powered sensor platform 

with an endurance of 90 minutes. 

Boeing’s swing-wing Scaneagle Compressed 

Carriage (Secc), designed to be 

dropped from an aircraft such as the Boeing 

P-8A and to be slowed by ballute and 

parachute prior to wing extension, may 

also be developed to suit launch from a 

submarine’s Trident tubes. 

The US Army’s Boeing AH-64D 

Apache Block III will come with Level 

IV drone control, which excludes only the 

take-off and landing phases. This will 

allow the Apache to receive and transmit 

real-time drone imagery and metadata. 

In tests in late 2009, an Apache Block III 

controlled a Boeing AH-6 Little Bird acting 

as surrogate for the Army’s General 

Atomics MQ-1C Sky Warrior. 

Elbit Systems of America has recently 

been awarded a Navair contract to supply 

TVDL (Tactical Video Data Link) kits 

On the Cover 

Compendium 

by 

Drones 

Europe Wakens to Males 

Together with 

the Hermes 

900 seen in 

the title above, 

the Sagem 

Patroller featured 

on our cover is 

one of the few 

totally new major 

drone designs to 

have had its maiden 

flight since our last Drone Compendium 

in 2009. Watch the growth in 

the one-tonne Male drone category! 

1

Developed by Advanced Ceramics Research in Tucson, Arizona, which is now part of 

BAE Systems, the folding-wing Coyote has recently been test-launched from the 

sonobuoy tube of a P-3 Orion. (BAE Systems) 

for US Marine Corps Bell AH-1Ws. This 

allows crews to see live video from 

drones and retransmit it to other aircraft 

and ground forces. 

The US Army is studying the concept of 

several drone cargo helicopters being controlled 

from a manned utility helicopter. In 

strike missions the US Air Force, which 

refers to this as ‘loyal wingman technology’, 

may use Lockheed Martin F-35s supported 

by Ucav ‘weapon mules’. 

The US Air Force is developing the 

concept of ‘swarming’, in which a sole 

operator will be able to control a group of 

partially-autonomous drones, radiolinked 

to avoid collisions. 

In the micro-category, vtol drones are 

being developed to operate inside buildings. 

Bio-inspired drone ornithopters not 

only fly, but also crawl and ‘perch-andstare’ 

to minimise battery use. 

gaining in popularity. Such services, pioneered 

with the Boeing/Insitu Scaneagle, 

are being continued with Canada’s MDA 

(MacDonald, Dettwiler & Associates) 

providing an Israel Aerospace Industries 

(IAI) Heron service in Afghanistan for 

both the Australian and Canadian forces 

(each of which will have two aircraft). 

At the recent Bahrain Air Show, Qinetiq 

promoted its ‘managed services’, 

which will provide and operate drones 

and produce processed mission data. 

AAI (an operating unit of Textron Systems) 

is expanding its fee-for-service 

drone operations with its Shadow and 

Aerosonde series. 

Many aerospace manufacturers are 

still scrambling to grab a slice of this rapidly 

growing pie, but one or two have 

decided there are too many snouts in the 

trough. In March 2010 Rafael announced 

that it would cease efforts to develop its 

own drones (notably the Skylite-B), 

although it would offer payloads for those 

of Aeronautics Defense Systems. 

Human Factor(s) 

Unmanned aircraft take a lot of people to 

operate them and make use of the information 

they provide. Britain’s Royal Air 

Force evidently requires 18 to 24 personnel 

to maintain one orbit continuously, 

aside from meteorological, administrative 

and other support elements. The US 

Air Force has a total of 140 to 160 personnel 

per Cap. That service plans to fly 

This IAI Heron is one 

of a pair operated in 

Afghanistan on behalf 

of the Royal Australian 

Air Force by 

MacDonald, Dettwiler 

& Associates, which 

also operates two for 

the Canadian Forces. 

(Royal Australian Air 

Force) 

Mixing the Genres 

Optionally manned derivatives of standard 

aircraft reduce developmental costs 

and risks and facilitate operation in civil 

airspace. The US Army is considering (in 

the longer term) converting substantial 

numbers of its utility and transport helicopters 

to optionally manned form. The 

Armed Aerial Scout, replacing the Army’s 

Bell OH-58, may reportedly `eventuate as 

a partially/wholly unmanned fleet. 

The idea of a civilian contractor providing 

a drone service in a combat area is 

Germany’s Bundeswehr is to be provided 

with a Heron service by Rheinmetall 

Defence, partnered with IAI. 

Thales UK’s ‘Istar By The Hour’ service 

for the British Army in Afghanistan 

(and formerly Iraq) employs companyowned 

Elbit Hermes 450s. Flight line 

service support is by personnel from U- 

Tacs (Uav-Tactical Systems), a Thales 

UK/Elbit joint venture. 

Scheduled to fly in 

April 2010, the 

Aerovironment Global 

Observer employs a 

fuel cell powered by 

liquid hydrogen. It is 

hoped to achieve an 

endurance of one 

week, cruising at 

60,000 ft. 

(Aerovironment) 

50 MQ-1/9 Caps by the end of fiscal year 

2011. It plans a ‘UAS community’ of nearly 

15,000, including 1650 pilots and 1440 

sensor operators. 

Efforts are being made to restrict 

manpower by having one ground control 

station provide Mac (multi-aircraft control) 

for the MQ-1/9 series. The automation 

of take-offs and landings is another 

growing trend, reducing not only operator 

skill demands, but also accident rates. 

The US Army’s fully automated MQ-1C 

is recording fewer landing mishaps than 

the US Air Force’s remotely piloted 

MQ-1A/B. 

In view of the large number of drones 

operating over southwest Asia, both the 

US Air Force and US Army have developed 

airborne sense-and-avoid (Absaa) 

systems. The overall trend is toward 

drones having greater autonomy. 

Humans cost lots of money and evidently 

make more mistakes. 

The following discussion reviews 

some of the principal unmanned aircraft 

developments, broadly in reducing order 

of size (tethered blimps are examined 

towards the end of this article). 

2 armada Compendium Drones 2010

791 hybrid demonstrator, which first flew 

in January 2006, and was expected to lead 

to the US Army’s Persius project, the illfated 

forerunner of the LEMV. 

Envisioned as a 76-metre hybrid, the 

LEMV prototype is required to carry an 

1135-kg/16-kW payload to a height of 

20,000 ft and remain there for three 

weeks. It is to be capable of a round trip 

of 4000 km, and to be optionally manned 

for self-deployment. Other requirements 

include a 37-km/h cruise, a 148-km/h 

dash and the capability to remain within 

One proposal for Darpa’s Vulture programme is the Aurora Flight Sciences Odysseus, 

which would take off as three separate modules, and could join together aloft to form 

a Z shape to optimise solar capture. (Aurora Flight Sciences) 

Airships 

At Farnborough in 2008 BAE Systems and 

Lindstrand Technologies announced a 

strategic partnership to develop the latter’s 

GA-22, which is currently radio controlled, 

but is planned to become fully 

autonomous. In 2004 Lindstrand supplied 

the Spanish Ministry of Defence with a 

GA-22, described as the world’s first fully 

combines a bi-lobe lifting body with four 

vectored-thrust ducted propellers. The 

concept also includes provision for a 

suck-down cushion to enhance stability 

on the ground. 

Following trials with a 15-metre technology 

demonstrator, the next stage is the 

high-altitude, ultra-long-endurance Condor 

unmanned surveillance platform 

series. The 45-metre Condor 204LG is 

functional airship drone, carrying a 42-kg 

classified surveillance payload. The GA-22 

can take a 150-kg payload to 6500 ft. 

Sanswire-Tao, a joint venture between 

America’s Sanswire and Germany’s Tao 

Technologies, is involved in the development 

of unmanned airships. These take 

the form of a patented sausage-like string 

of hinged modules, with vectored-thrust 

engines at the nose. The mid-altitude 

STS-111 (which first flew in Germany in 

December 2009) will pave the way for the 

75-metre Stratellite, designed to cruise at 

around 60,000 ft. This altitude is believed 

to give the optimum combination of radial 

coverage (with over 500 km to the horizon) 

and wind speed. 

Several manufacturers plan to exploit 

the potential of airships designed as lifting 

bodies. These hybrids are claimed to 

excel at medium altitudes, whereas pure 

LTA vehicles are better at high altitudes. 

Combined with thrust-vectoring, hybrids 

are also easier to launch and recover. 

Two British companies – Hybrid Air 

Vehicles and Condor Technologies – are 

co-operating on the Condor series, which 

The US Navy’s longrunning 

requirement 

for a stealthy strike 

aircraft may be 

advanced by carrier 

trials in 2012 of the 

Northrop Grumman 

X-47B, which is due 

to make its first flight 

by mid-2010. (US 

Navy) 

designed for an 1135-kg payload, and the 

111-metre Condor 404 for a 2270-kg load, 

to be operated at 40,000 ft. 

Hybrid Air Vehicles is expected to compete 

with Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works 

for a US Army prototype contract for the 

LEMV (Long-Endurance Multi-payload 

Vehicle) that is planned to fill the imagery 

and sigint gap between aerostats and satellites. 

Skunk Works produced the small P- 

armada Compendium Drones 2010 

The Northrop Grumman RQ-4N 

Global Hawk has been selected as the 

US Navy Broad Area Maritime 

Surveillance (Bams) drone. That service 

plans to buy six development and 62 

production aircraft. (Northrop 

Grumman) 

3.5 km of its nominal loiter position for at 

least 50% of the time. 

At the end of January 2010 the US 

Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command 

(SMDC) was scheduled to request 

proposals for an LEMV prototype that 

will fly within 18 months of contract signature 

under a five-year technology 

demonstration programme. Tests are to 

include 21 days in an ’operational environment‘, 

presumed to be Afghanistan, 

in the third quarter of FY11. 

The definitive LEMV is expected to 

carry a 3175-kg/73-kW payload, cruise at 

55 km/h, and remain within two km of its 

nominal station for at least 50% of the 

time, and to be controlled from the US 

via satellite. 

The Lockheed Martin 

RQ-3 Darkstar was an 

unsuccessful attempt 

to develop a stealthy 

ISR drone that could 

penetrate hostile 

airspace. This 

example is exhibited 

at the Smithsonian 

Institute. (US Air 

Force) 

3

Next Big Thing 

The large surface area of an airship 

makes it a natural application for solar 

regenerative propulsion, offering the 

prospect that it can store sufficient excess 

energy during the day from photovoltaic 

arrays to power the vehicle throughout 

the night. Current studies appear to indicate 

that an endurance of weeks or 

months can probably be achieved, given 

long summer days and the absence of 

strong winds. 

Whether solar-powered airships can 

achieve extreme endurance year-round 

throughout the desired band of global 

latitudes is unknown. If successful in 

these terms, stratospheric airships operating 

in ‘near space’ between manned aircraft 

and satellites would offer excellent 

coverage and low operating costs. 

One of the planned applications for 

this technology is the US Army-led HAA 

(High Altitude Airship) project, which is 

intended to carry between a 900 and 1800- 

kg sensor payload to 65,000 ft and stay 

there for months. The HAA began as a US 

MDA (Missile Defense Agency) programme, 

under which Lockheed Martin 

received a $ 149 billion contract in 2005 to 

produce a prototype. This was cancelled 

by the MDA in FY08, and the programme 

transferred to the US Army’s SMDC. 

SMDC has funded a high-altitude concept 

demonstrator aimed at proving the 

feasibility of HAA. This is the Lockheed 

Martin Hale-D (High Altitude Long 

Endurance – Demonstrator), an 82-metre 

reusable airship designed to fly with a 23- 

Boeing is funding 

development of the X- 

45C Phantom Ray, a 

larger derivative of 

the X-45A which flew 

in 2004. The first X- 

45A is exhibited in 

the Smithsonian 

Institute Air & Space 

Museum in 

Washington DC. (US 

Air Force) 

kg/500-Watt payload for at least two 

weeks. The Hale-D has solar arrays on the 

upper surface of the hull, and lithium-ion 

batteries to power the aircraft at night. 

Whereas the HAA is intended for 

heavy loads, months of flight and selfdeployment 

from America, SMDC’s 

Hisentinel is to be launched in-theatre 

with a small/medium (up to 100 kg) payload 

and an endurance of «greater than 

30 days». In 2005 the Southwest Research 

Institute (SwRI) Hisentinel20, with a hull 

fabricated by Aerostar International, 

made a five-hour flight with a 27-kg payload, 

reaching 74,000 ft. 

Remarkable as it was, this was not the 

first time that powered flight had been 

achieved by an airship in the stratosphere. 

In 1969, carrying a 2.3-kg payload, powered 

flight was achieved at 70,000 ft by the 

Noteworthy for its unusual store configuration, this unmarked General Atomics MQ-9 

Predator B is carrying two unidentified pods of completely different sizes. (US Central 

Command) 

High Platform II, made by Raven Industries, 

Aerostar’s parent company. 

The next project in this SMDC stratospheric 

airship series is the 54.6-metre 

Hisentinel50, designed to carry a 23- 

kg/50-Watt payload and fly at around 

66,000 ft for more than 24 hours. The 

Hisentinel50 was first demonstrated at 

Holloman AFB, New Mexico in June 2008. 

The final objective in the series is a Hisentinel 

that can support a 90-kg/1000-Watt 

payload at 67,000 ft for 30+ days. 

In parallel with these US Army efforts, 

Darpa is funding the Isis (Integrated Sensor 

Is Structure) project, combining the 

extreme endurance of solar power with a 

massive Aesa (Active Electronically 

Scanned Array) in the form of a vertical 

cylinder using the full depth of the envelope. 

To avoid the difficulty of landing 

Isis, it is intended to be used like a nonrecoverable 

satellite, hopefully to stay 

aloft for ten years or more. To put this in 

perspective, communication satellites 

have a typical life of 15 years. 

By the 2020s strike 

missions may be 

performed by manned 

aircraft operating in 

partnership with 

armed drones. This 

artist’s impression 

teams the Rafale 

fighter with Neuron 

Ucavs. (Dassault 

Aviation) 

In April 2009 Lockheed Martin was 

awarded the first $ 100 million tranche of 

a $ 400 million contract to design and fly 

a one-third scale Isis demonstrator, which 

is to stay aloft for 90 days. Instead of storing 

excess daytime power in batteries, it 

will be used to break down stored water 

by hydrolysis, to produce hydrogen and 

oxygen. These elements will power fuel 

cells at night. 

Raytheon is developing the Isis radar 

system, which employs antennas weighing 

only 1.8 kg/metre 2 . It combines a 600- 

metre 2 UHF radar to detect ground targets, 

and a 100-metre 2 X-band radar for 

aerial targets and tracking. The Isis 

demonstrator is expected to fly in 2013, 

and – as part of its tests – to operate in the 

target-rich environment of the Florida 

Keys for 90 days. 

The production Isis is expected to be 

300 metres long and have antennas 

totalling 6000 metre 2 . It will provide a 

detection radius of 600 km against small 

cruise missiles, compared to the 300 to 375 

km of fixed-wing AEW&C aircraft. 

The US Air Force may in future take a 

more active role in the development and 

operation of high-altitude airships, if only 

to reduce its dependence on expensive 

commercial satcom links. 


CASTING A LONGER SHADOW 

UNMANNED CAPABILITIES 

REACHING ACROSS THE BATTLESPACE 

AAI has proven itself time and time again as a leader in unmanned 

technology with the Shadow ® Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System 

(UAS) and One System ® Ground Control Station. Approaching 

500,000 flight hours, Shadow has soared over the battlespace, 

bringing critical tactical information to the warfighter on the ground, 

in the air and at sea. 

Building on its leadership in unmanned technology, AAI has 

advanced its control systems, Aerosonde ® Small UAS, Unmanned 

Surface Vessels, and manned/unmanned teaming concepts to 

new heights. With successful tests of multiple UAS control, and 

manned/unmanned teaming, the sky is no longer the limit, but the 

beginning of future technologies being applied today toward 

tomorrow’s challenges. 

Find out more about the growing shadow AAI casts over 

the UAS industry at RSC_AAIReg@aai.textron.com. 

aaicorp.com 

© 2010 AAI Corporation. All rights reserved. AAI is an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. 

(NYSE: TXT) company. Shadow is a registered trademark of AAI Corporation. AAI and design is a registered 

trademark of AAI Corporation. Aerosonde is a registered trademark of Aerosonde Pty Ltd., a strategic business 

of AAI. One System is a registered trademark of the U.S. Army. Helicopter photo courtesy U.S. Army.

Extreme Planes 

A recent Nasa comparison of hale drone 

concepts for the communication relay 

mission found that a lighter-than-air 

vehicle with solar arrays and a hydrogen- 

The much heralded 

jet-powered General 

Atomics Predator C, 

or Avenger, had its 

maiden flight in April 

2009, featuring a 

stealthy configuration 

and an internal 

weapons bay. 

(General Atomics) 

Reports indicate that the Pentagon is also 

attracted to HTA aircraft by the fact that 

they are easier to deploy. 

For HTA drones to achieve extreme 

endurance, they need to combine 

advanced solar panels and energy storage 

tion, to be delivered within five years. In 

the same weight category, the Aurora 

Flight Sciences Sunlight Eagle grosses 75 

kg, but has a span of 35 metres. 

Aurora, teamed with Boeing, is also 

working under SMDC funding on the 

3175-kg, 40-metre span Orion, a prototype 

of which is due to fly this year. In 

definitive Hale form with 76-metre span 

and 5272-kg gross weight, this is to be fitted 

with a hydrogen-fuelled Ford piston 

engine, and is designed to remain at 

around 65,000 ft for seven days. 

In a similar category, but using a liquid 

hydrogen-powered fuel cell, the Aerovironment 

Global Observer GO-1 is a 4100- 

kg, 40-metre-span drone of which three 

have been ordered under a JCTD (Joint 

Capability Technology Demonstration) 

programme supported by six government 

organisations. Funding currently totals 

$ 120 million. The GO-1, which was due to 

This variant of the General Atomics Predator B is named Guardian, and is equipped with a Raytheon Seavue maritime radar for use 

by US Customs and Border Protection and the US Coast Guard. (US Customs and Border Protection) 

This artist’s impression shows a 

Lockheed Martin project aimed at the 

US Air Force’s emerging requirement 

for an MQ-M drone to replace both 

Predator and Reaper. Two wing sizes 

are proposed. This image suggests that 

the engine(s) will drive a generator that 

will power a podded motor. Whether 

the tail surface will be happy to live 

with the propeller’s turbulence remains 

to be seen. (Lockheed Martin) 

air proton exchange membrane fuel cell 

gave the best mission performance. However, 

a diesel-engined conventional wingfuselage-tail 

HTA (heavier-than-air) 

design emerged as the preferred consumable 

fuel concept (accepting its more limited 

endurance) in view of the large size 

and technical risks of the LTA vehicle. 

facilities with sailplane-like lift/drag 

ratios. This implies a long-span, relatively 

fragile wing. The Pentagon sees this type 

of aeroplane as having potential in the 

sigint role. 

In 2008 the 31-kg Qinetiq Zephyr Six 

stayed aloft for 3.44 days, an unofficial 

endurance record for drones. The 

improved Zephyr Seven will weigh 80 kg 

and have a wingspan of 18.1 metres. It is 

scheduled to fly this year and achieve an 

endurance of 14 days. In May 2009 Navair 

awarded Qinetiq a $ 45 million contract 

for seven Zephyrs and one ground stamake 

its first flight by the end of April 

2010, is planned to loiter at around 60,000 

ft with a 180-kg payload for up to one 

week. The follow-on GO-2 will have a span 

of 79 metres and a payload of 450 kg. 

The current ’ultimate’ in solar-powered 

HTA projects is the Darpa Vulture, 

which is envisioned as a 150-metre-span 

drone that will carry a 450-kg/5.0-kW payload 

to between 65,000 and 90,000 ft and 

stay there for five years. Following Phase 

One project definition studies, Darpa has 

invited bids for a $ 155 million Phase Two 

contract to build and fly a demonstrator 

Showing minor 

changes from its 

Predator A forebear, 

the General Atomics 

MQ-1C Warrior has 

a heavy-fuel engine, 

automatic take-off and 

landing and four 

weapon hardpoints. 

(US Army) 


The Lockheed Martin Tracer (Tactical Reconnaissance and Counter-concealment 

Enabled Radar) is here illustrated on a Predator. The UHF antenna is in the pod and 

the VHF array under the starboard wing. (Lockheed Martin) 

with a span of at least 135 metres. It is to 

carry a 90-kg/1.0-kW payload and have an 

endurance of 30 to 90 days. 

Hale Jets 

The aircraft that sets the standards in jetpowered 

hale drones is the Northrop 

Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk, which the 

manufacturer says has a typical endurance 

of 24 hours. Nominal gross weight for the 

stretched RQ-4B is 14,628 kg. The US Air 

Force goal is to have three RQ-4 combat air 

patrollers by FY11, and nine by FY16. 

The US Air Force plan is to acquire 

seven Block Ten RQ-4As, six Block 20 

RQ-4Bs, 42 Block 30 RQ-4Bs with Eiss 

(Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suite) and 

later Asip (Airborne Signals Intelligence 

Payload) and 22 Block 40 RQ-4Bs with 

MP-Rtip (Multi-Platform – Radar Technology 

Insertion Program) radars. 

The $ 303 million FY10 Pentagon contract 

covers two RQ-4B Block 30s and 

three Block 40s. The FY11 request 

includes four RQ-4s for the US Air Force. 

The first Block 40 (the 18th Global Hawk 

for the US Air Force) had its maiden 

flight in November 2009. Air Force RQ- 

4s are currently flying from Beale and 

Edwards AFBs in California, and a forward 

operating location in the United 

Arab Emirates. 

Two RQ-4As are being tested by the 

US Navy under the Bams-A programme 

(Bams standing for Broad Area Maritime 

Surveillance). The Navy plans to acquire 

six development and 62 production 

‘Block X’ RQ-4Ns. The Bams is to be 

operational by FY19. 

The RQ-4Ns are to be home-based at 

Jacksonville NAS, Florida, Whidbey 

Island NAS, Washington and Point Mugu 

NAS, California. Overseas bases are provisionally 

named as Andersen AFB on 

Guam, Kadena AB on Okinawa and 

Sigonella NAS, Sicily. Global Hawks will 

provide five combat air patrols (one for 

each US Navy fleet) with four aircraft 

assigned to each. Take-offs and landings 

will be controlled locally, but in flight the 

aircraft will be controlled by satcom from 

Patuxent River NAWC, Maryland. 

The first export Global Hawk is a 

Block 20 RQ-4B purchased by Germany 

for Sigint duties, using an EADS payload. 

Distinguished by six large underwing 

pods, this Eurohawk is due to ferry to 

Manching in southern Germany around 

mid-2010. Prime contractor is Eurohawk, 

a joint venture by Northrop Grumman 

and EADS. It is anticipated that a further 

four aircraft will be ordered in 2011 for 

delivery in 2016-2017. 

If funding allows, 15 (down from 17) 

Nato nations are to acquire eight Global 

Hawk Block 40s under a € 1.2 billion 

AGS (Alliance Ground Surveillance) 

programme, which will base the aircraft 

at Sigonella. 

Stealthy Jets 

Although the Global Hawk has largely 

taken over the role of the manned Lockheed 

U-2, it can operate only in a permissive 

environment. The US Air Force 

retains the ambition to own a stealthy 

sensor platform that can make deep penetrations 

into hostile airspace, supplementing 

satellite imagery. 

Pictured at the Dubai Air Show, this mock-up represents the BAE Systems Mantis, which 

first flew in October 2009. The Mantis could provide a twin-engined alternative to the 

existing Reaper and Heron TP drones. (Armada/EHB) 

One of many 

newcomers, the Elbit 

Hermes 90 took to the 

air in late 2009. (Elbit 

Systems) 

An attempt was made to produce a 

stealthy ISR drone in the form of the 

Lockheed Martin RQ-3 Darkstar, which 

was developed with help from Boeing 

(responsible for the wings) and Darpa. 

The RQ-3 first flew in January 1996 and 

crashed three months later. A more stable, 

fully autonomous RQ-3A flew in 

June 1998. Two more were built, but 

never flew. 

The Darkstar, combining a straight wing 

with a half-saucer fuselage, proved too 

small to generate a useful payload-radius 

performance, and the programme was officially 

cancelled in January 1999. Grossing 

3855 kg, it is credited with an endurance of 

eight hours, but a cruise altitude of only 


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45,000 ft, a cruise speed of only 465 km/h 

and a range of only 925 km. 

Lockheed Martin continued to work 

(reportedly under company funding) on 

a stealthy high-altitude drone, returning 

to a conventional sweptback flying-wing 

design. The twin-engined P-175 Polecat 

flew in 2005, but crashed in December 

2006. It is believed to have had a span of 

27.5 metres and a GVW of 4090 kg. 

In 2007 there were reports of an 

unidentified single-engined flying-wing 

drone at Kandahar, Afghanistan. In late 

2009 this was identified as a Lockheed 

Martin RQ-170 Sentinel, owned by the 

US Air Force’s 30th Reconnaissance 

Squadron, based at Tonopah, Nevada. Its 

purpose may be to make ISR penetrations 

into Iranian airspace. 

Combat Drones 

America’s J-Ucas (Joint – Unmanned 

Combat Air System) project, an ill-conceived 

attempt to develop a common air 

vehicle for both the US Air Force and US 

Navy, collapsed in 2006. However, in 2007 

the Navy decided to continue with a 

Ucas-D (demonstrator) programme, 

using the 20,865-kg Northrop Grumman 

X-47B prototype, derived from the 

X-47A, which flew in 2003. Powered by 

a single Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220U 

engine, the X-47B is estimated to have 

a nine-hour endurance and a 3000-km 

radius and boasts a maximum speed of 

around Mach 0.8. 

In May 2009 an 

EADS-led team 

completed a € 60 

million risk-reduction 

study of the Talarion 

ISR drone, funded by 

the defence ministries 

of France, Germany 

and Spain. (Y. L. 

Mao) 

rier-based Ucas demonstrator, not necessarily 

derived from Ucas-D. Major funding 

is to start in FY13, and flight trials are 

to begin in 2018. 

Recognising the potential value of the 

future combat drone market, Boeing is 

continuing development of the X-45C (a 

larger derivative of the X-45A flown in 

the J-Ucas programme) under the name 

Phantom Ray, using its own funds. A 

smaller aircraft than the X-47B, the X-45C 

Bearing French military registration F-SDAU and Israeli AF serial 1021, this Armée de 

l’Air IAI Heron is the first ‘Harfang’ of the service’s four delivered to Bagram Air Base 

in Afghanistan. (US Air Force) 

The first of two X-47Bs is scheduled to 

fly in the second quarter of 2010 at 

Edwards AFB and commence carrier trials 

in 2012, followed by in-flight refuelling 

tests. The US Navy plans to issue an 

RFI (request for information) in late 

2010 for an armed, sensor-equipped, carhas 

a gross weight of 16,555 kg and is powered 

by a General Electric F404-GE-102D 

engine. First flight is expected to take 

place in December 2010 at the White 

Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. 

Other countries are following the US 

lead. The BAE Systems Taranis project is 

aimed at a British deep strike requirement 

possibly arising around 2025. The 

Dassault-led Neuron, due to fly in 2011, 

brings together the aerospace industries 

of France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden 

and Switzerland. 

Russia’s Rac-MiG unveiled the Skat 

(Skate) at Maks 2007, and in the following 

year China exhibited models of the 

Warrior Eagle and Shenyang Dark 

Sword. In 2009 Korea Aerospace Industries 

(KAI) unveiled at Seoul a model of 

the K-Ucav, designed for both the air-toair 

and air-to-ground missions. 

The Male Patroller 

being prepared for 

flight in June 2009, 

featuring a bellymounted 

Euroflir 

turret. The small pods 

under the tail boom 

and on the tail fin tip 

are Ku-band datalink 

aerials, which, thus 

positioned, enable the 

aircraft to remain in 

contact in all flight 

attitudes. (Sagem) 

Ground Attack and Males 

The Pentagon’s 30-year combined aviation 

plan for the US Air Force and US 

Navy refers to a total of 72 ’multi-role 

UAVs‘ (MQ) in 2011, growing to 223 by 

2015 and 476 by 2020. 

The current standard in the ‘persistent 

strike function’ (US Air Force-speak) is 

set by the turboprop-powered General 

Atomics MQ-9 Reaper. The first of two 

pre-production YMQ-9s flew on 17 October 

2003 (the proof-of-concept Predator 

B having flown on 2 February 2001). Both 

YMQ-9s were sent to Afghanistan in 

2005, but production MQ-9s began operations 

in Afghanistan only in 2007, and in 

Iraq in 2008. 

The US Air Force is planning to phase 

out its piston-engined MQ-1 Predators 

and operate an all-Reaper fleet. The service 

hopes to buy at least 319 Reapers. 

Some 45 MQ-9s had been delivered to 

the US Air Force (out of 60 produced) by 

the end of 2009, for operation by the 42nd 

Attack Squadron, based at Creech AFB, 

Nevada. The US Air Force FY11 request 

includes 48 MQ-9s, twice the current production 

rate. 

The 4763-kg MQ-9 has an endurance 

of 18 hours and can carry 1360 kg of 

stores. Automatic take-off and landing 

capability (ATLC) and the first stage of 

electronic attack (EA) are scheduled for 

FY10. The second stage (with the Mald-J 


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The U-Tacs Watch - 

keeper took to the air 

on 14 April 2010 at 

ParcAberporth in 

Wales. Britain has 

placed an order for 

54 home-built 

Watchkeepers. U-Tacs 

is a 51/49% Elbit- 

Thales UK joint 

company. (Thales) 

Responding to Defense Secretary Gates’ 

2008 demand for more ISR assets in-theatre, 

the army launched two interim-standard 

QRC (Quick Reaction Capability) 

initiatives. 

The QRC-1 system was deployed to 

Iraq in July 2009 as four unarmed air 

vehicles, with only EO/IR sensors and 

communications relay capability. The 

QRC-2 will deploy to Afghanistan in July 

2010 in the form of four air vehicles, each 

with four Hellfire launchers and a General 

Atomics Lynx Block 30 radar. Later 

decoy-jammer) is due in FY12, and protected 

communications in FY12. 

Since it comes within MTCR (Missile 

Technology Control Regime) guidelines, 

export marketing of the MQ-9 is restricted 

to close allies, such as the Euro-Nato 

1C systems, each with twelve air vehicles 

and five ground control stations. 

The US Army gained initial experience 

of the General Atomics series by 

operating I-Gnat ERs in Iraq from 2004, 

using the designation Warrior Alpha. 

With extended wing 

(which makes it loose 

it gull-wing design) 

and tail boom, Selex 

Galileo is aiming at 

the entry level of the 

Male drone court, 

with a 20,000-ft 

ceiling and a 20-hour 

endurance. (Selex) 

The Spanish Siva developed by the 

Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aero - 

espacial is here seen in its catapult 

launch configuration and a few 

examples of which are operated by the 

Spanish Army. A picture featuring this 

300-kilo aircraft fitted with a conven - 

tional landing gear can be seen in our 

centrefold table. (Inta) 

production MQ-1Cs will have the 

Northrop Grumman Starlite radar. 

Under its FY10 budget the US Army 

acquired 24 MQ-1Cs. The FY11 request is 

for a further 29. 

Predator: The 1022-kg MQ-1 Predator A 

(now referred to simply as Predator), which 

has an endurance of 22 hours, continues to 

nations, Australia and Japan. Britain has 

bought three MQ-9s and requested ten 

more, Germany requested five but decided 

to defer acquisition (leasing IAI 

Herons as an interim measure), and Italy 

is buying four. Turkey is believed to have 

asked for both Predator As and Reapers 

for use against Kurdish insurgents, but the 

US will supply only the former type. 

Before leaving the General Atomics 

Predator B family, it may be noted that 

US Customs and Border Protection 

operates five Predator Bs. In late 2009 

CBP took delivery of the first of two prototypes 

of a maritime version, named 

Guardian. In addition to the standard 

Raytheon EO/IR sensor turret, the 

Guardian has a Raytheon Seavue radar. 

Under a joint programme between CBP 

and the US Coast Guard, the Guardians 

will be stationed at Cape Canaveral Air 

Force Station, Florida. 

The US Army’s 1452-kg MQ-1C (Sky) 

Warrior or Gray Eagle is a major advance 

on the Predator A, with (in production 

form) a Thielert heavy-fuel engine, a Sar 

(synthetic aperture radar), automatic 

take-off and landing capability and provisions 

for stores on four pylons. The US 

Army plans to acquire at least eleven MQ- 

Patroller Firming Up 

The Patroller (mentioned in the core text) is in fact based on the all-carbon, fixed 

tricycle landing gear S15 airframe developed by Stemme’s special aircraft division 

and does not feature a retractable propeller (the aircraft remains powered 

at all times). In addition, the Patroller features two underwing pylons that will enable 

it to carry extra fuel and/or a podded synthetic aperture radar. Since the initial Summer 

2009 tests in Finland, the Patroller was submitted to a new flight campaign in 

France’s open airspace near Pontoise, something that was made possible by the fact 

that the pilot station is retained inside the cockpit. Not only did this enable Sagem 

to confirm the system’s validity, but also its triplex controls, which hitherto were simplex. 

With extra fuel accommodated under the aforementioned pylons, the aircraft’s 

autonomy is boosted from 10 to 20 hours, but the aircraft is now being modified to 

carry even more fuel in integrated wing tanks with a view to pushing the flight hours 

to the 30 mark. In a configuration that substitutes one of the underwing pods for a 

synthetic aperture radar (a future integration that will largely be customer oriented), 

the autonomy will hover around the 25-hour figure. By Summer 2010, according 

to Sagem, the Patroller will have stepped out of its demonstrator status and 

become a prototype in its own right. By the time these lines are read, the aircraft will 

be (or have been) tested at Istres with and without on-board pilot. What will next 

happen, to use Sagem’s own words, “is just a matter of industrialisation”. 

As an openly exportable Male drone, the Patroller aims at remaining within the onetonne 

class for which the market, outside the United States, is currently estimated at 

€ 500 million. For France alone, the Patroller is intended as a ’inter-ministerial system‘ 

by virtue of which it would be operated by the French Air Force for various military 

(the need has been demonstrated by the Harfang) and civilian missions, where 

it would be able to cover 80% of heavier Male drone capabilities, but at only 20% of 

the cost. 


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fly the majority of the US Air Force orbits 

over southwest Asia (more than 30 out of 

39 by the end of 2009). The US Air Force 

has already received over 200 Predators, 

although many have been lost in accidents. 

The service has a force objective of 185 

MQ-1s, funded through the Military Intelligence 

Program. Italy has six long-span 

RQ-1Bs. Turkey has ordered six while 

Poland has two on loan. 

Painted with the name 

‘Storm’, under which 

it is promoted in the 

US, this Elbit Systems 

Hermes 90 is 

equipped with the 

company’s new 

enhanced Micro 

compass sensor 

payload. (Elbit) 

By the end of 2009 General Atomics 

had delivered 242 RQ/MQ-1s, 26 MQ- 

1Cs, and 60 MQ-9s. Around 70 more aircraft 

had been completed by General 

Atomics in the form of the earlier Gnat 

series and one-offs, such as the prototype 

Predator C/Avenger. 

The US Air Force is planning an MQ- 

M (previously MQ-X) family of stealthy 

medium-weight multi-role drones that 

was originally to enter service around 

2015, replacing both the MQ-1 and the 

MQ-9. However, the timescale is moving 

to the right, and the initial MQ-Ma is now 

due in 2020, and becoming more capable 

and heavier, around 9000 kg. 

The MQ-M is seen as being available 

in three capability phases. The roles of the 

MQ-Ma will include electronic attack, 

strike and close air support. The MQ-Mb 

of 2020 will add Sead (Suppression of 

Enemy Air Defences), air interdiction, air 

refuelling (as a small tanker), aeromed 

evacuation, casevac and swarming technology. 

It will also receive fuel in flight. 

The MQ-Mc of around 2047 will add to its 

repertoire defensive counter-air, missile 

defence and strategic attack. 

In January 2010 Darpa requested proposals 

for a new ground-attack drone 

that could be demonstrated in 2012-2013 

and form the unmanned component of a 

future close air support system. It may be 

a purpose-built drone, or a derivative of a 

manned aircraft, such as a ’QF-16‘ or 

The US Marine Corps requirement for 

vtol cargo drones to perform resupply 

for forward areas has sparked interest 

in ducted fan projects, including this 

AD-150 design by American Dynamics 

Flight Systems. (American Dynamics 

Flight Systems) 

The Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scout may later be cleared to use lightweight 

weapons such as the same company’s laser spot-homing GBU-44/B Viper Strike air-tosurface 

missile. (Northrop Grumman) 

’UA-10’. The purpose-built drone is to 

have the endurance of an MQ-1/9, coupled 

with a warload of 2270 kg, a maximum 

speed over Mach 0.65, and a maximum 

load factor above 3G. 

Avenger: General Atomics has meanwhile 

private-ventured a jet-powered, 

low-signature Predator C or Avenger. 

The first Avenger grosses 5220 kg (compared 

to 4763 kg for Predator B) and first 

flew in April 2009. The second Avenger is 

stretched, and is expected to weigh up to 

6800 kg. It has a single Pratt & Whitney 

Canada PW545B turbofan and an internal 

weapons bay. The Avenger is estimated 

to be capable of 540 km/h and a ceiling 

of at least 60,000 ft. A carrier-based 

version has been projected. 

Another MQ-M project is a stealthy 

Lockheed Martin Skunk Works concept 

using a hybrid propulsion system. It 

would employ a turbo-diesel engine in 

the loiter phase, driving a propeller 

mounted on a vertical fin, between veetail 

surfaces. It would switch to two jet 

engines for high-speed dash, and use all 

three units in climbing to high altitude. 

Two wing sizes are proposed: a shorter 

span for the hunter-killer role at around 


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A160T Hummingbird 

Boeing 

10.67 

10.97 

2540 30 24 

1x 

572 hp 

P&WC 

PW207D 

Payload: 300 kg 

Sar, EO/IR 

t-o/recov: vtol 

Aerolight 

Aeronautics 

2.56 

4.00 

40 10 4.00 

8 hp 

n/a 

Payload: 8 kg 

Hi-resolution 

CCD or night 

camera 

t-o/recov: cat-para 

Bateleur 

10 

15 


Denel Argos or 

Goshawk/Avi - 

tronics elint or Sar 

Bird Eye 400 

0.80 

2.20 

Payload: 

Day or IR 

n/a 

Denel 

1000 25 24 

1x Rotax 

914 or 

Subaru 

EA-82T 

t-o/recov: conv-conv 

IAI Malat 

5.60 n/a 1.00 

n/a 

t-o/recov: hand or 

cat-belly 

Eagle 1 

EADS-IAI Malat 

4.00 

16.3 

1150 25 24 

1x Rotax 

914 


EO or EW 


Eagle 2 

EADS-IAI Malat 

13 

22 

3600 45 24 

1x 

1200 hp 

P&WC 

PT6A-67A 

Payload: 

~500 kg 

EO, EW or Sar 

(based on Heron 

TP, development 

on back-burner) 


Global Observer GO-2 

Aerovironment 

25.4 

78.94 


EO or EW 

Fuel Cell 

8 motors 

4127 65 168+ 


Goldeneye 80 

Aurora Flight Sciences 

0.70 

1.40 

11 5.00 1.00 

n/a 

Payload: 1 kg 

Day IR, Athena 

Guidestar 111-m 

nav. & ref. 

system, IR, flir 


Heron TP 

IAI Malat 

14 

26 

4650 45 36 


TV & IR, custom 

(IAI Tamam, 

various) 

1x 

1200 hp 

P&WC 

PT6-67A t-o/recov: conv-conv 

Hunter MQ-5B 


7.01 

10.44 

885 18 20.5 

2x 57 hp 

dual 

Payload: n/a 

TV & IR 

(IAI Tamam) 


Luna 

EMT 

2.26 

4.17 

A Compendium of Drones 

Aerosky 

Israel Aerospace Industries 

n/a 

4.48 

70.31 15 5.00 

n/a 


Cots EO 

(manufacturer not 

determined) 


Aerosonde Mk 4 

AAI-Aerosonde 

2.10 

2.90 

15.20 15 30 

H-Type 

42 cc 

EFI 

Payload: 5 kg 

Various stabilised 

EO-IR Blos 

imagery meteo 

sensors 

t-o/recov: hand-belly 

Buster LE 

Mission Technologies 

1.83 

1.02 

6.80 12 9.00 

n/a 

Payload: 3 kg 

Day/night, Sar, 

acoustic, remote 

relay link 


Camcopter S-100 

Schiebel 

3.09 

3.40 

200 18 6.00 

1x 55 hp 

Austro 

engines 


Day, IR, elint, 

comint, laser, 

rangefinder, laser 

pointer, Sar 


E-Swift Eye 

0.82 

1.00 

Payload: 8 kg 

Infrared, Mpeg 

recorder 

Eurohawk 

14.53 

39.90 


Sigint, elint, 

comint, satcom, 

Sar MTI 

Cyberflight 

2.20 4.00 1.00 

1x 

electric 


EADS-Northrop Grumman 

14.628 60 30+ 

1x R-R 

AE3007H 


Hermes 90 

Elbit Systems 

4.00 

5.00 

110 15 15+ 

14 hp 

2-stroke 


Elbit Enhanced 

Micro Compass 

t-o/recov: conv/catconv 

Hermes 180 

Elbit Systems 

4.43 

6.00 

195 15 10 

1x UEL 

38 hp 

Payload: n/a 

EO, IR laser designator, 

GMTI 

UK: Athena 

Guidestar 411 

nav. & ref. system 


I-Gnat 

6.00 

13 


EO, IR or Sar 

(L-3 Wescam) 

I-Gnat-ER Warrior Alpha 

8.00 

17 

Payload: 

Flir, TV, Lynx 

Sar, Ku-band 

satcom 

n/a 

General Atomics 

748 30 50 

1x Rotax 

914 



1043 25 30 

1x Rotax 

914F 

115 hp 


Mariner 

10.97 

26.21 

Payload: 363* kg 

* Internal payload 

- external 1361 kg 

various 

Mini UAV 

1.05 

1.50 

Payload: 0.50 kg 

TV or flir Photon, 

gas sensors 


4763 52 49 

1x Ase 

TPE331- 

10T 

tp 


Patria 

3 - 4 low 1.00+ 

1x 300W 

type n/a 


Pioneer 

4.24 

5.12 

Payload: 

TV & flir 

(IAI Tamam, 

Versatron) 

n/a 

Pointer 

1.80 

2.70 


CCD camera or 

IR 

IAI-AAI 

210 15 6.50 

1x 27 hp 

Sachs SF2- 

350 t-o/recov: conv/ratoconv 

Aerovironment 

3.60 0.6+ 1.00 

1x 

electric 


Remoeye 006 

1.55 

Payload: 

Day or IR 

n/a 

Remoeye 015 

1.80 

Payload: 

Day or IR 

n/a 

2.72 

3.20 

n/a 

n/a 

Ucon 

6.00 n/a 1.50+ 


Ucon 

15 n/a 4.00 


Shadow 400 

5.00 

3.82 


EO/IR 

(various 

manufacturers) 

Shadow 600 

5.18 

7.47 

Payload: n/a 

Micro-flir, CCTV 

(various 


AAI 

201 12 5.00 

1x UEL AR 

741 

38 hp 


AAI 

265 17 12+ 

1x UEL 

AR 801 

50 hp 

t-o/recov: conv/cat/ 

rato-conv 

Sky-X 

~7.00 

~6.00 


Not defined, 

Athena Guidestar 

311 nav. & ref. 

system 

Sojka 

3.81 

4.08 

Payload: n/a 

CCD camera, IR 

(various 


Alenia 

1100 30 n/a 

1 turbine 


VTULaSTV 

145 7.00 2.00 

2-cyl 

2-stroke 

29.5 hp 


Talarion 

12 

27.9 

Payload: 

in design 

1800 kg 

Tipchak (1K133) 

2.40 

3.40 

Payload: n/a 

TV, IR, targeting 

laser (Vega) 

EADS 

7000 50 20+ 

2x 

Williams 

FJ33-5A 

8.45 kN 

t-o/recov: in design 

Luch 

50 70 4.00 

Hirth 

12 hp 


X-47B (Ucas-D) 

demonstrator 

11.58 

18.90 


EO, IR, Sar, 

GMTI, ESM, IO 

Yabhon-M 

4.30 

5.70 

Payload: 

Day, IR 

n/a 


20,865 40+ 40+ 

P&W F100 


ATS 

330 n/a 30 

1x 60 hp 

ME 684 


Compendium Drones 2010

Aerostar 

4.50 


Stabilised EO 

Aladin 

0.60 

Payload: 

Day or IR 

n/a 

6.50 

1.46 

Aeronautics 

200 18 14 

Zanzottera 

2-piston 

490ia 

38 hp 


EMT 

~3.0 low 0.75 

1x 

electric 


Coyote 

BAE Systems 

0.90 

1.75 

6.4 25 1.5 

8 hp 

Payload: n/a 

Sony day or BAE 

uncooled IR 

t-o/recov: expendable 

D-1A SR 

Dara Aviation 

1.75 

3.28 

25 n/a 4.00 

QA400, 

37cc 

2.5 hp 

Payload: n/a 

1A recon or 

weather sample 

1D geophysical 

survey 

t-o/recov: cartop-conv 

Falco 

Selex Galileo 

5.30 

7.20 

450 n/a 14 

UEL 

AR 682 

75 hp 


EOST 45 (typical), 

Picosar and 

Gabbiano radars 

being integrated 

t-o/recov: conv/catconv 

Falco Evo 

Selex Galileo 

5.80 

12 

n/a 20 20 

UEL 

AR 682 

75 hp 

Payload: n/a 

EO, Sar 


Hermes 450 

Elbit Systems 

6.10 

10.52 

449 20 20 

1x UEL 

AR-801 

52 hp 

Payload: n/a 

Tesar Sar, DSP 

EO, compass flir 

and CCD 


Hermes 900 

Elbit Systems 

15 

15 

970 33 40 

1x Rotax 

100 hp 


EO gimbal, Sar- 

GMTI (Elbit), 

satcom, air-toground 

weapons 


Integrator 

2.10 

4.80 


infrared, marker 

I-View 

4.10 

7.10 


Mosp EO or 

EL/M-2055B 

8 hp 

n/a 

Boeing/Insitu 

59 20 24 

t-o/recov: cat-snag 

IAI Malat 

250 20 8.00 

t-o/recov: 

cat-para 

Neptune RQ-15 

1.83 

1.83 

Payload: 

IR or TV or 

droppable 

9 kg 

Neuron 

demonstrator 

9.30 

12.50 

Payload: n/a 

Radar, IR plus 

guided bombs in 

two internal bays 

DRS Technologies 

62 8.00 4.00 

1x 15 hp 

2-stroke 

t-o/recov: cat/bellypara 

Neuron 

~6000 35 n/a 

1x Adour 

t-o/recov: 

conv-conv 

Predator A MQ-1 


8.23 

14.84 

1043 25 24+ 

1x Rotax 

914 

115 hp 

Payload: n/a 

EO, IR, Sar 

(Northrop 

Grumman, L-3 

Wescam) 


Predator B 


10.36 

20.12 

4536 50 30+ 

1x Ase 

TPE331- 

10T 

tp 

Payload: 

EO, IR, Sar 

(Northrop 

Grumman, L-3 

Wescam) 

n/a 


Scaneagle 

1.19 

3.05 

Payload: n/a 

Stabilised day or 

IR 

Searcher II 

5.85 

8.56 

Payload: 

TV & flir 

(IAI Tamam) 

n/a 

Boeing 

18 16 15 

1x 1.5 hp 

2-stroke 

t-o/recov: cat-cable 

IAI Malat 

426 19 16 

1x 73 hp 


Silver Fox 

1.46 

2.38 


Colour & CCD 

cameras, flir 

Siva 

4.02 

5.81 


CCD, IR 

stabilised turret 

BAE Systems 

9.1 16 10 

4-cycle 

JP5 or FP8 


Inta 

300 12 6.50 

Rotax 503 

UL-2V 

49.6 hp 

t-o/recov: conv/catconv/para 

Sperwer 

3.51 

4.21 

1x 70 hp 

2-stroke 


Sagem Olosp 

Sperwer B 

3.50 

6.20 

1x 70 hp 

2-stroke 

Payload: 

50 kg 

Sagem 410 TV, 

Matis (3-5µ) or 

Iris (3-12µ) plus 

weapons (Spike) 

Sagem 

250 17 8.00 


Sagem 

350 20 12 


Tracker (Drac) 

1.40 

3.60 

Payload: 

Day or IR 

1.8 kg 

Tu-243 (VR-3 Reys-D) 

8.21 

2.26 

Payload: n/a 

TV, IR, radiation 

detection 

EADS 

7.50 6.50 2.00 

1x 

electric 


Tupolev ANTK 

1397 17 n/a 

1x Izotov 

TR-3-117 tj 

t-o/recov: rato-para 

Yarara 

2.47 

Payload: 

EO 

5 kg 

Zala 421-12 

0.62 

Payload: 

Day or IR 

1.00 kg 

3.98 

1.60 

6 hp 

Electric 

Nostromo Defense 

30 10 6.00 


Zala Aero 

3.90 1.00 2.00 


Compendium Drones 2010

Aqua Puma 

1.80 

2.59 

Payload: 

EO 

n/a 

Asio 

n/a 

n/a 


Interchangeable 

top and bottom, 

IR and day-night 

Aerovironment 

6.35 2.50 2.50 

600 W 


Selex Galileo-Utri 

6.00 n/a 0.50 

1x 

electric 


Desert Hawk 

0.82 

Payload: n/a 

Colour day or IR 

Dragon Eye RQ-14A 

1.73 

Payload: 

Day TV 

n/a 

1.31 

1.16 

Lockheed Martin 

3.20 1.00 2.50 

1x 

electric 

t-o/recov: cat-belly 

Aerovironment 

2xAveox 

1005/6Y 

2.04 1.00 1.00 


Fire Scout MQ-8B 


7.01 

8.22 

1430 20 8.00 

Payload: n/a 

EO, IR, laser 

designator, Sar, 

GMTI, radar 

1x R-R 

250- 

C20W 


Global Hawk RQ-4B Block 20 


14.53 

39.90 

12,111 65 36 

Payload: n/a 

Sigint, MP Rtip 

plue extra power 

unit, Sar, EO, IR 

satcom 

1x R-R 

AE3007 H 

tf 


Hermes 1500 

9.39 

15 

Payload: n/a 

EM, TV, Sar 

(various 


Heron 

8.60 

16.61 

Payload: n/a 

TV & IR, custom 

(IAI Tamam) 

Elbit Systems 

1496 25 24 

2x Rotax 

914 

100 hp 


IAI Malat 

1100 30 50 

1x Rotax 

914 

115 hp 


Killer Bee KB4 

Swift Engineering-Raytheon 

1.91 

3.05 

74 10 15 

15 hp 


Laser designator, 

TV, IR 

t-o/recov: cat-net 

KZO 

Rheinmetall 

2.26 

3.41 

161 11.50 3.50 

1x 30 hp 

Schrick 

SF2-350S 

Payload: 

Flir 

Rheinmetall 

Defence 

Electronics 

t-o/recov: rato-para 

n/a 

Nibbio 

4.07 

2.30 


Flir, ESM, IR, TV, 

ECM 

Orbiter 

1.00 

2.20 

Payload: 1.2 

High-resolution 

stabilised CCD 

(Controp) 

Selex Galileo 

740 40 0.90 

1x Microturbo 

TRS 

18-1 tf 


Aeronautics 

6.50 18 3.00 

brushless 


R90 

1.42 

2.56 

Payload: 

Day, IR 

n/a 

Ranger 

4.60 

5.70 

Payload: 

EO, IR 

(IAI Tamam) 

n/a 

Enics 

n/a n/a 0.50 

1x Enics 

M44D 

pulse jet 

t-o/recov: rato-expen. 

Ruag 

274 14.8 5.00 

1x 

Goebler- 

Hirth 

38 hp 

t-o/recov: cat-conv 

Seeker II 

Denel 

n/a 

7.00 

280 18 10 

1x 4-cyl 

2-stroke 

50 hp 

Payload: n/a 

Colour camera, 

multi-sensor, electronic 

survey 

t-o/recov: conv-conv/ 

arrestor 

Seeker 400 

Denel 

10 

15 

n/a 8.00 16 

n/a 

Payload: 

EO & Sar 

100 kg 


Skeldar V-150 

Saab 

4.00 

3.30 

150 11 n/a 

2-stroke 

2-piston 

55 hp 


Types not yet 

defined 


Skylark I 

Elbit Systems 

2.20 

5.50 

n/a 16 2.00 

n/a 

Payload: n/a 

Day or IR 

gyro-gimballed, 

new-gen night 

system 


Sperwer Mk 2 

Sagem 

3.50 

4.20 

250 15 20 

1x 

70 hp 

2-str 


EO, Sar, elint, 

comint. Modified 

structure for 

launch with 

Robonics cat. 


Spy Arrow 

Thales 

0.60 

0.66 

25,000 ft, and a longer span for ISR operations 

at around 40,000 ft. 

Talarion: In a similar category, the EADS 

Talarion (formerly Advanced UAV) is a 

project powered by two Williams turbofans. 

It is to have a 7000-kg gross weight 

and a 27.9-metre span. Named after the 

winged sandals of Hermes, the Talarion is 

a joint French-German-Spanish venture. 

EADS was serious rocked on its foundations 

by the incredible delays and skyrocketing 

development costs of the 

A400M transport aircraft and, as a consequence, 

many justifiably fear the partner 

nations will take a very prudent stance 

before giving their formal go-ahead to the 

programme in mid-2010 (if this is not further 

delayed), which puts the first flight 

date of 2013 in doubt. 

This is especially true that France, 

Germany and Spain will have to stick to 

their commitments for 18, 18 and nine 

aircraft respectively for the programme 

to move ahead. Development would cost 

€ 1.5 billion, and the production of 45 

drones a further € 1.4 billion. 

Mantis: The BAE Systems Mantis is 

apparently aimed at providing a more 

capable, twin-turboprop alternative to 

the single-engined Reaper and Heron TP. 

The Mantis was unveiled in mockup form 

at Farnborough in 2008 and first flew at 

Woomera in Australia on 21 October 

2009. A production Mantis could gross as 

much as 9000 kg. Compared with the 

Talarion, the Mantis offers the immense 

advantage of now being a flying platform. 

Europe’s principal 

success in drone 

helicopters is Austria’s 

Schiebel Camcopter 

S-100, which in 2009 

made the first 

unmanned flying 

demonstration to be 

seen at the Paris Air 

Show. (Schiebel) 

This might have influenced the French 

Assembly’s Defence Committee decision 

in early 2010 to advocate a ‘rapprochement’ 

with Britain on that programme – 

at least in its intelligence, surveillance 

and recce segment. 

Illustrated in model 

form, the 450-kg BAE 

Systems Ampersand 

drone gyrocopter is 

based on the two-seat 

Rotorsport MT-03, and 

is aimed at shipbased 

operations. 

(BAE Systems) 

Italy, which has voiced its interest, remains 

obscure at this stage. Edelstenne was 

adamant to remind that the Neuron 

demonstrator programme was on track and 

that this aircraft is still scheduled to take to 

the air in 2012, suggesting that France may 

be willing to support the development of 

the Mantis role in exchange for Britain supporting 

the Neuron (in place of the Taranis) 

for its combat drone. 

Patroller: Developed on company funds 

by Sagem and initially introduced as a 

powered glider-based (Stemme S-10VT), 

this drone took to the air at the Finnish 

Kemijärvi test range at approximately 

the same time as the 2009 Paris Air Show. 

As one would expect from a systems 

point of view, the Patroller draws extensively 

on experience garnered by Sagem 

with the Sperwer. During the 2009 test 

campaign, according to Sagem, the 

Patroller demonstrated its ability to take 

off and land autonomously, and to gather 

and transmit image information through 

its belly-mounted Euroflir 410 turret. The 

At the Singapore Air Show in January 2010, Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled the 

Bird Eye 650, a development of the Bird Eye 400 that uses a fuel cell to double 

endurance to six hours. (IAI) 

This has since been clearly confirmed 

with Dassault’s boss Charles Edelstenne 

during the firm’s annual press conference 

in Paris in March. Should such a joint venture 

crystallise, BAE Sytems would be in 

charge of airframe and guidance, Dassault 

for integration and Thales for avionics/payloads. 

The eventual role played by 

300 km/h maximum speed Patroller is 

given as able to operate at a ceiling of 

25,000 feet with an autonomy of some 30 

hours. The drone is fully compatible with 

the Sperwer’s ground equipment. 

Falco Evo: Having successfully anchored 

its medium Falco on the export market 

(launching a system with a foreign customer 

is always a remarkable feat), Selex 

Galileo has embarked on the natural step 

of expanding the capabilities of its drone. 

The Italian company is currently carrying 

out the aerodynamic studies of the Evo 

(an apocope of Evolution) which would 

see the aircraft’s wingspan almost double 

from 7.20 metres to 14, while the necessary 

increased momentum effect of the 

tail section would be obtained by stretching 

the tail booms by some 50 cm. Thus 

redesigned, the Falco Evo would be able 

to bite into the tail end of the Male drone 

category with a 20-hour endurance and a 

20,000-ft ceiling (whether this can be 

achieved with the current UEL engine, 

however, remains to be seen). 

A company programme manager told 

Armada that should a partnering cus- 


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tomer be found, the Evo could make its 

maiden flight in 2011. Open to speculation, 

two alternative partners are possible. 

Italy, who nearly a decade ago had no 

other choice than to fish abroad to 

acquire a Male drone (and eventually 

selected the Predator), and Pakistan. The 

latter was the launch customer of the 

Falco (also building it under licence) 

but is now also looking at ways of entering 

the Male operators’ club and is eyeing 

various options. Pakistan makes little 

secret about its intention of building 

up its know-how in the manufacture of 

aircraft to reduce reliance on imports 

(as exemplified by the JF-17 fighter aircraft 

programme) and to endow itself 

with a more capable drone, including a 

type that could be armed. 

Siva & Milan: Spain, through the Instituto 

Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial 

(Inta), initially entered the club a few 

years ago and has produced the 300-kilo 

all-up weight Siva. The type, the construction 

of which is largely based on 

composite materials, has been undergoing 

tests since 2006 and three appear to 

have been operated by the Spanish Army. 

The Siva system includes a two-man 

mobile ground control station, and is a 

design which requires a third person to 

handle the aircraft on the ground. 

Depending on the nature of the terrain, 

the Siva can be conventionally rolled for 

take-off and landing or catapult launched 

and retrieved by parachute and airbags. 

The Asio and its 

control station come 

in a 20-kilo one-man 

backpack and are 

ready to operate in 

five minutes. It is 

currently being 

evaluated by the 

Italian Esercito. (Selex 

Galileo) 

Inta has since embarked on a more ambitious 

project called the Milan (Black 

Kite) whose 12.5-metre wingspan should 

enable this 900-kilo bird to operate at 

21,100 feet. 

The graceful Italian Falco is here seen equipped with a gimballed Selex Eost 45 

electro-optical turret. (Selex Galileo) 

tries. This follows IAI’s earlier success with 

the smaller 430-kg Searcher II/III, used by 

India, Indonesia, Russia, Singapore, South 

Korea and (in Afghanistan) Spain. 

The Heron has an endurance of up to 

50 hours, although a 24-hour mission is 

probably more typical. It may be noted 

that the French Air Force version (designated 

Sidm and more recently Harfang) 

has a Sar/MTI radar and laser designator, 

in addition to the baseline electro-optical 

turret. 

Heron TP: IAI hopes to continue this run 

of success with the turboprop-powered, 

4650-kg Heron TP, which first flew in 2006 

and entered the Israeli Air Force inventory 

in February 2010. In promoting the Heron 

TP in Germany, IAI has teamed with 

Rheinmetall Defence (which provides an 

interim service with the Heron) to compete 

against the EADS Talarion and the 

Reaper, General Atomics being supported 

by Diehl BGT Defence. 

Pictured on a launcher at Camp Taji in Iraq, the AAI RQ-7B Shadow 200 serves both 

the US Army and Marine Corps. Some 116 four-aircraft systems have been ordered for 

these services. (US Army) 

Israeli Alternatives 

Heron: The principal alternative to the 

Predator A is the 1250-kg IAI Heron, 

which is employed by the Israel Defense 

Force and armed forces of 14 other coun- 

SDM: In marketing in France and Spain, 

the Heron TP is being supported by Dassault 

Aviation, Thales and Indra. It is 

claimed that for France’s SDM requirement, 

three units could be supplied within 

four years for € 700 million. However, 

things might change completely, with 

France’s new stance regarding the Mantis 

(see above). 

Hermes 450: Elbit Systems is responsible 

for Israel’s lighter Male sensor platforms, 

its principal success to date being the 

550-kg Hermes 450, which has been 

exported to Croatia, Georgia, Mexico 

and Singapore. 

Beginning in 2007, ten Hermes 450s 

have been operated by Thales UK on 

behalf of the British Army in 

Afghanistan. This continues pending 

availability of the Hermes 450B Watchkeeper 

or WK450. 

Watchkeeper: The Watchkeeper differs 

from the Hermes 450 in having a shoulder- 

(not pylon-) mounted wing, a radarbased 

automatic take-off and landing system 

and different equipment, including a 

Thales I-Master Sar/MTI radar. 


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The 54 Watchkeepers for the British 

Army are to be built in Britain by the 

Elbit/Thales joint venture U-Tacs, in 

which Elbit owns a 51% share. The aircraft 

had its maiden flight, which lasted 

20 minutes, on 14 April 2010 at Parc - 

Aberporth – three years after the signature 

of the acquisition contract. On the 

occasion of this event, Thales UK’s Alex 

Dorian said, «2010 is an important year 

for the programme as it will also see the 

opening of the Watchkeeper training 

facility based in Larkhill, and the continuation 

of the technical field trials at Parc - 

Aberporth». In the wake of this 

announcement, Elbit also disclosed that 

it had been awarded a $ 70 million contract 

to provide logistic support to the 

programme over the next three years. 

The Watchkeeper is expected to be 

weaponised at a later stage, possibly with 

the 13-kg Thales LMM Missile. (See 

video: www.armada.ch/watchkeeper.) 

Hermes 900: One of Elbit’s recent developments 

is the 1100-kg Hermes 900, 

which first flew on 14 December 2009. It 

can carry a 300-kg payload including a 

Sar/MTI radar, and has a maximum 

endurance of 36 hours. 

Hermes 90: The 195-kg Hermes 180 is no 

longer the lightest of the Hermes series, 

the 85-kg Hermes 90 having been unveiled 

at the 2009 Paris Air Show, and flown on 29 

September 2009. It forms the basis for the 

Storm contender for the US Navy-US 

Marine Corps Stuas/Tier II system. The 

Storm is promoted by UAS Dynamics, a 

joint venture by Elbit Systems of America 


has purchased rights 

to the Swift 

Engineering Killer Bee 

4 and renamed it Bat. 

Two are shown in 

their transport crate. 

The design is licensed 

to Raytheon for 

Stuas/Tier II. 

(Northrop Grumman) 

and General Dynamics. Reports indicate 

that Elbit is also studying a maritime 

patrol project in the 2500 kg class, to bridge 

the gap to the IAI Heron series. 

Aerostar: In a lighter category, the Aeronautics 

Defense Systems Aerostar has 

recently been selected by Poland for use 

in Afghanistan. Other users include 

Israel, Angola and the US Navy. 

unveiled in 2009, has already been sold to 

the German Army and Indian Air Force. 

Whereas the Harpy used only passive 

radiation homing, the Harop adds an 

EO/IR (electro-optical/infrared) sensor 

to allow it to be remotely controlled if the 

emitter is switched off. 

Other Males 

It evidently riles many nations that, if 

they need a simple ISR Male drone, they 

have to import from General Atomics, 

IAI or Elbit Systems. To rectify this situation, 

several are attempting to develop 

their own sensor platforms in the 750 to 

1500 kg class. 

Examples include (in order of reducing 

size) China’s 1500-kg CAC Wing Loong 

and BZK-005, Turkey’s 1500-kg TAI Tiha- 

A, America’s 1360-kg L-3 Geneva Aerospace 

Mobius, Abu Dhabi’s 1250-kg Yabhon 

RX-18 and 955-kg Smart Eye (which 

is reported to be in production for a foreign 

customer), France’s 1050-kg Sagem 

Trials of the Aerosonde Mk 4.7 have included automated launches from and 

recoveries to the 27-metre M80 Stiletto technology demonstrator, designed and built 

by M Ship of San Diego, California. (AAI) 

Israel has also been a leader in the 

development of loitering, expendable 

anti-radar attack drones. Aside from local 

use, the 135-kg IAI Harpy has been sold 

to Chile, China, India, South Korea and 

Turkey. The Harop development with a 

23-kg warhead and six-hour endurance, 

Patroller (q.v), South Africa’s 1000-kg 

Denel Dynamics Bataleur, Britain’s 750- 

kg BAE Systems Herti. 

India’s DRDO (Defence Research & 

Development Organisation) 1800-kg 

Rustom is intended to replace the Heron 

in Indian service. However, the 20-metre- 

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 

a combat drone. (Arcturus) 


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span, twin-engined Rustom prototype 

crashed on its maiden flight on 16 

November 2009, reportedly after power 

was switched off prematurely. 

South Korea’s Agency for Defense 

Development (ADD) is also developing 

a relatively heavy Male drone, with a 

gross weight of 4000 kg, a 24-hr 

endurance and a 500-kg payload. 

Vertical Operation 

Since most drones are intended to be 

operated from forward areas, their 

launch and recovery can be problematic. 

However, the provision of catapults and 

launch rails and recovery nets and parachutes, 

can be avoided by vertical takeoff 

and landing, which also has special 

attractions in the context of shipboard 

operations. A trend has recently developed 

in the United States to use the heavier 

types for field cargo delivery. The subject 

was recently examined by Armada 

(see issue 2/2010, page 10). 

K-Max: The 5443-kg Unmanned K-Max 

has been developed by Team K-Max, 

combining Kaman and Lockheed Martin, 

to meet a US Marine Corps requirement 

for an Immediate Cargo UAS to be 

deployed in Afghanistan. Despite the 

limiting name, the drone is optionally 

manned. 

A160T: The only alternative appears to be 

the 2950-kg Boeing A160T or YMQ-18A. 

The A160T can currently deliver a 450-kg 

The Aerovironment 

Puma AE (All 

Environment) was 

developed as a 

replacement for the 

company’s FQM- 

151A Pointer, and 

has been adopted by 

Ussocom as its Small 

UAS. (Aerovironment) 

centreline container, but a sling load 

capability is being developed. 

Failing to make the shortlist were the 

1610-kg Boeing ULB (Unmanned Little 

Bird) and the 1430-kg Northrop Grumman 

MQ-8B Fire Scout. 

Fire Scout: The MQ-8B has demonstrated 

its ability to deliver autonomously two 

containers from lateral pylons. 

The Fire Scout was selected by the US 

Navy as its Vtuav in 2000, then zero-funded 

in 2002, but reselected in 2004. The US 

Army selected it in 2003 as its FCS Class 

IV system or XM157, but then terminated 

the FCS programme. Northrop Grum- 

Camcopter S-100: Europe’s principal 

verti-lift drone is Austria’s Schiebel Camcopter 

S-100, of which over 100 have 

been ordered by three customers: the 

United Arab Emirates, Ussocom (US 

Special Operations Command) and the 

German Navy. Originally developed as a 

platform for Schiebel’s mine-detection 

equipment, it is being used by Centauri 

Solutions in a counter-roadside bomb 

project called Desert Horn (formerly 

Yellow Jacket). It has also been tested 

with the Selex Picosar radar and the 

Thales Optronics Agile 2 EO/IR turret. 

The S-100 has been employed by a Boeing-led 

team to demonstrate psyops with 

a loudspeaker and leaflet-drop for 

Usasoc (US Army Special Operations 

Command). It has been trialled from the 

ships of the French, Indian, Pakistani and 

Singaporean navies. 

Skeldar: Saab Aerosystems has recently 

expanded its drone helicopter portfolio 

by adding to the 200-kg Skeldar the Swiss 

UAV’s 75-kg Neo S-300 and 45-kg Koax 

X-240. 

The recently unveiled Aerovel Flexrotor, 

a tail-sitting fixed-wing aircraft with a 

large propeller and small torque-compensating 

wingtip rotors, is due to fly 

around mid-2010. 

T-Hawk: The 8.6-kg Honeywell RQ-16 

Mav ducted fan drone was selected in 

One of the most remarkable drone developments is the micro air vehicle (Mav), 

exemplified by the 340-gram Aerovironment Wasp, which carries colour video 

cameras and flies for 60 minutes. (Aerovironment) 

Micro-electronic machine (Mem) 

technology has made possible nano 

air vehicles (Nav), illustrated by this 

flapping-wing Aerovironment example 

funded by Darpa. (Aerovironment) 

man, however, is still actively engaged in 

running a number of aircraft with the 

service (quite apart from the manufacturer’s 

own Fire Scout, which is being used 

for demonstrations with potential customers 

abroad). The US Coast Guard 

appears likely to order the Fire Scout, but 

is waiting to see which radar the Navy 

chooses. 

Mule: One of several ducted-fan projects 

aimed at anticipated US and Israeli 

requirements for front-line casualty 

evacuation is the Urban Aeronautics 

Mule, which has recently begun hover trials. 

The Mule currently grosses 1050 kg, 

but a derivative in the 1500-kg class is 

also projected, in view of growing interest 

in vtol cargo drones. 

2006 to be the US Army’s FCS Class I 

drone. Although FCS has been abandoned, 

deliveries of the gasoline-fuelled 

gMav to the Army’s E-IBCT (Early 

Infantry Brigade Combat Team) will 

begin in 2011 under the designation 

XM156 Class I (Block 0). 

In 2007 the US Navy ordered 20 YRQ- 

16As for roadside bomb detection tests in 

Iraq. Those were so successful that the 

Navy announced the intention to buy 186 

RQ-16 T-Hawk systems with two air vehicles 

each. Some 90 systems have so far 

been ordered. The RQ-16B Block II 

introduces a gimballed electro-optical 

sensor and provides reduced noise and 

improved reliability. In January 2009 

Britain ordered five systems for use by 


A relative newcomer 

in the field of drone 

sensors is this Rafael 

Recce-U, which is a 

scaled-down 

derivative of the 

Reccelite pod 

originally designed 

for the F-16 fighter 

aircraft. (Rafael) 

and elint gear. Six aircraft, two ground 

stations and related equipment can be 

packed in a C-130-transportable container. 

The 240-kilo Viking has an endurance 

of up to twelve hours depending on the 

payload carried. 

Falco: Launched into production by Pakistan 

(this is still an 'undisclosed customer’, 

but very much an open secret) 

the Selex Galileo Falco currently takes 

off at 420 kg from a runway, but the use of 

a catapult (presumably Finland’s Robonic 

system) has now been cleared, to meet 

a potential Italian requirement. In terms 

of payload systems, the Falco is typically 

offered with an Eost 45 electro-optical 

turret (Selex is quite open to integrate 

other systems), but the range of sensors 

has been expanded. The firm’s Picosar 

Aesa radar has already been integrated 

and the Gabbiano maritime surveillance 

the British Army for the same role in 

Afghanistan. 

Asio: This interesting development 

comes from Italy, with Utri providing the 

airframe and Selex Galileo in charge of 

systems integration and marketing. An 

electrically powered verti-lift drone, the 

Asio is evidently aimed at urban warfare 

or engagements of similar nature, but 

incorporates one or two interesting features. 

First of all, it is able to carry two 

payloads that can be indifferently mounted 

at the top or at the bottom of the centre 

body pod, but being secured in place 

with a bayonet mechanism, their positions 

can be swapped depending on mission 

requirements. These payloads 

include one 7.5 to 13.5µ vanadium oxide 

microbolometer infrared sensor on the 

one hand, and a day-night camera with 

automatic switchover to night mode 

under 2.5 lux intensity on the other. 

The second important feature is its 

’perching mode‘, by virtue of which it is 

able to land on a vantage point, shut 

down its motor and silently scan around 

for four hours before returning home, 

which it can do at a top speed of 24 knots. 

Its flight autonomy is over 30 minutes 

while its line-of-sight datalink reaches 

out to twelve km. 

Although the Asio is still under development, 

Galileo informed the authors 

that it had now reached a good maturity 

level, recently having been focused on 

robustness, ’flight behaviour‘ and batteries. 

The Asio is a one-man affair, which 

can be put into operation within five minutes 

from pulling it out of its backpack 

together with its control station (including 

datalink and telemetry systems). The 

entire package weighs a mere 20 kilos. 

Medium Fixed-Wing 

The multiplicity of medium fixed-wing 

drones allows mention of only a few 

recent illustrative examples (see our foldout 

table herewith for more details). 

Hunter: Just below the one-tonne mark, 

the US Army’s 885-kg Northrop Grumman 

MQ-5B Hunter has an airframe 

built by IAI-subsidiary Stark Aerospace, 

which is also responsible for marketing 

the Heron in North America. The MQ-5B 

is now cleared to use the Viper Strike 

missile. 

Viking 400: Following an order placed by 

the US Special Operations Command 

last year (2009), L-3 started rolling out its 

first production Viking 400s in early 2010. 

So far the contract, to the tune of $ 250 

million, covers the delivery of six aircraft 

and two ground stations. The Viking 400 

is able to carry up to 40 kilos worth of 

payloads, including electro-optical, sigint 

The Hermes 90, also 

known as the Storm for 

marketing purposes in the 

United States, is equipped 

with a new version of the 

Micro Compass ball now 

known as the Enhanced 

Micro Compass. The major 

reconfiguration now adds 

both CCD day and infrared 

sensors (the latter with 

continuous zoom), mobile 

target tracking and a laser 

tracker – all in a new threeaxis 

stabilised configu - 

ration. (Elbit Systems) 

Russia’s A-Level Aerosystems designs 

and produces the Zala family of 

drones weighing less than 100 kg. Its 

highly successful flying wing series 

includes this 4.2-kg Zala 421-04M. (A- 

Level Aerosystems) 

radar with a synthetic aperture capability 

should follow suit this year (2010). Other 

sensors identified as ’multispectral‘ to 

collect pollution factors are also being 

considered. 

Pakistan has purchased five Falco systems, 

each with four air vehicles, and 

licence-manufacture will begin shortly. 

Shadow 200: Pakistan is also to be supplied 

with twelve AAI RQ-7B Shadow 

200s. The 170-kg RQ-7 entered service 

with the US Army in 2002 and with the 

US Marine Corps in 2007. A total of 116 

systems, each with four aircraft, have so 

far been ordered for these services. In 

2008 the US Army approved an upgrade, 

which included long-span (6.1-metre) 

wings, an engine burning JP-8, increased 

fuel capacity and lithium batteries. 

Sentry HP: In the same weight class, the 

190-kg DRS Technologies Sentry HP features 

a carbon fibre airframe and a 

retractable landing gear, giving the sensor 

turret an unobstructed field-of-view. 

I-View: The 160-kg IAI I-View 150 is one 

of the three types of Israeli drones purchased 

in 2009 by Russia, the others 

being IAI’s 430-kg Searcher II and fivekg 

Bird Eye 400. 

Stuas/Tier II: The most important contest 

in the sub-100 kg category is the US 

Navy/US Marine Corps Stuas/Tier II programme 

for a drone with an endurance of 

ten hours. It will initially have EO/IR sen- 


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sors, laser designation and communication 

relay facilities. Later it will carry sigint 

equipment and deliver lightweight 

precision munitions. Some 56 systems are 

planned, each with three air vehicles. 

Service entry is due in late FY12. 

The principal options are the 85-kg 

UAS Dynamics Storm (Hermes 90), the 

77-kg Raytheon/Swift Engineering Killer 

Bee 4, the 59-kg Boeing/Insitu Integrator 

and the much lighter 24.9-kg AAI 

Aerosonde Mk4.7. 

T-20: The latest entry from Arcturus, the T- 

20, tested in 2009 is now in production and 

being flight tested by the US Marine 

Corps and the US Navy, since it has the 

ability to drop payloads from its underwing 

pylons (dropping tests of Snowflake 

autonomously guided parafoils developed 

by the Naval Postgraduate School have 

also been carried out). At time of writing, 

the two aforementioned services had 

taken delivery of five units. The T-20 can 

carry a pair of 81-mm munitions, which 

effectively qualifies it as a combat drone. 

(See video: www.armada.ch/T-20.) 

Launched from a portable pneumatic 

catapult, the aircraft is designed to belly 

land. This means that the electro-optical 

sensor, typically a Cloud Cap T-2, is 

retractable. Built with composite materials, 

the 75-kilo take-off weight T-20 typically 

has an endurance of 16 hours with a 

16-kilo payload. For more technical 

details, please refer to our centre foldout 

table. 

Hand-launched 

Hand-launched drones are illustrated by 

Aerovironment’s 6.35-kg Puma AE (All 

Small synthetic aperture radars, like 

this Selex Galileo Picosar in the nose 

of the Falco, are opening up an 

entirely new boulevard of applications 

to smaller drones. (Selex Galileo) 

Controp has recently 

tested its Stamp turret 

installed onboard a 

six-kilo Innocon Micro 

Falcon drone. The 

stabilised turret 

weighs less than one 

kilo. (Innocon) 

Environment) and 1.9-kg RQ-11B 

Raven-B. 

Raven: Over 900 Ravens are currently 

being operated in Iraq and Afghanistan. It 

is used by the armed forces of Australia, 

the Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, 

Lebanon, Netherlands, Spain, the UK and 

US. The US Air Force has purchased 108 

Ravens to replace the Desert Hawk. The 

Pentagon’s FY11 budget request is for 

312 Ravens for the US Army and 16 for 

the US Marine Corps. 

Puma: The Fuel Cell Puma (now under 

development), using a Protonex Technology 

fuel cell and a lithium-ion battery, has 

istry’s many years of neglect. In 2005 

the Vega group, including Kulon in 

Moscow and Luch in Rybinsk, was given 

the lead in drone developments. Luch is 

developing the 60-kg BLA-05 Tipchak or 

9M62 to support rocket artillery. The 

Defence Ministry is also funding the 500- 

kg Kulon BLA-06 Aist and the 35-kg 

Luch BLA-07. 

The St Petersburg-based Transas has 

flown several drones, notably the 95-kg 

Dozor-4 (or Dozor-100) and the 640-kg 

Dozor-3 (or -600). Irkut is developing a 

range of designs, from the lightweight 

three-kg Irkut-2M and the 8.5-kg Irkut- 

10 to the 200-kg Irkut-200. The optionally 

piloted 850-kg Irkut 800 is based on the 

Stemme S-10VT motor glider (as is 

France’s 1050-kg Sagem Patroller). 

In the hand-launched category, 

A-Level Aerosystems has private-ventured 

the 2.1-kg flying-wing Zala 421-08. 

This is used by the Russian Ministry of 

Interior Affairs, and is the first Russian 

drone to be produced in substantial numbers 

in the last 20 years. A-Level also 

makes the 4.2-kg Zala 421-04M and the 

18-kg Zala 421-16. Its helicopter range 

includes the 12.4-kg Zala 421-06 and 

Unfortunately, the necessary print screening process does not do those pictures justice. 

Nevertheless, the high-definition view taken by a Star Safire HD of the same area 

(right) still reveals details like lamp posts (arrows) that are lost on the standardresolution 

picture at left. (Flir Systems) 

already achieved an endurance of over 

nine hours. It may be noted that the US 

Naval Research Laboratory’s 17-kg fuel 

cell-powered Ion Tiger made a flight of 23 

hr 17 min in October 2009. 

Wasp: Micro air vehicles (Mavs) are now 

available, thanks to lighter batteries and 

sensors. The principal example is the 340- 

gram Aerovironment Wasp III, which has 

been adopted by both the US Air Force 

and the US Army, the latter having a 

requirement for 22,000 Wasp systems. 

The US Air Force has so far purchased 

442 Wasps. The Israeli alternative is the 

450-gram IAI Mosquito. 

Nano air vehicles (Nav) exploit Mem 

(micro-electronic machine) technology to 

achieve weights of ten grams or less, and 

wingspans below 7.5 cm. In this category 

Darpa is funding development of the flapping-wing 

Aerovironment Mercury. 

Russia 

Special mention of Russian drone developments 

is arguably justified, following 

the hiatus created by the Defence Minthe 

95-kg Zala 421-02, Russia’s heaviest 

vtol drone. 

Extreme Endurance 

The mention of tethered aerostats may 

be questionable in a survey dedicated to 

mobile systems, but they actually fill a 

role in long-term local-area surveillance 

that cannot be achieved by systems that 

regularly need to land. Low-cost and 

offering extreme endurance, tethered 

lighter-than-air helium-filled aerostats 

can currently stay aloft for up to a month. 

However, they are clearly limited in operating 

location and altitude and thus in 

sensor range. 

Reap: One example is the Reap (Rapidly 

Elevated Aerostat Platform), a joint 

US Army/Navy development using a 

Bosch Aerospace 9.5M aerostat flown at 

300 ft. The Raytheon/Tcom Raid (Rapid 

Aerostat Initial Deployment) is used by 

the US Army in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

The Raid is based on the Tcom 17M aerostat, 

flown at 1000 ft. The US Army also 

employs the Lockheed Martin PTDS 


Even light helicopter drones, like this Schiebel Camcopter S-100 and its side-pylon 

mounted Picosar, are now able to join the ‘Sar League’ in which membership was 

hitherto restricted to the larger Male and Hale drones. (Schiebel) 

(Persistent Threat Detection System), 

with the company’s 56K aerostat flown 

at 2500 ft. 

Tars: Lockheed Martin is also responsible 

for the US Air Force Tars (Tethered 

Aerostat Radar System), using the company’s 

420K aerostat, with an envelope 

made by ILC Dover. Flown at 15,000 ft, it 

gives the Lockheed Martin L-88 radar a 

range of 370 km. 

Marts: Employed for communication 

relay, the Marts (Marine Airborne Re- 

Transmission System) was developed by 

Darpa for use by the US Marine Corps in 

Iraq. The Tcom 32M aerostat takes a 225- 

kg payload to 3000 ft, giving a radius of 

125 km. 

Jlens: A major advance in aerostats will 

be achieved by the Raytheon/Tcom Jlens 

(Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile 

Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System), 

which – in combination with the US 

Army’s IAMD (Integrated Air and Missile 

Defense) – is intended to provide 

deployed forces with the detection and 

tracking of potential threats and targets, 

including large-calibre rockets, drones 

and moving surface vehicles. 

The Jlens will employ the Tcom 74M 

aerostat, which can carry a 1600-kg payload 

to a normal operating height of 10,000 

ft, with an endurance of one month. The 

74M is designed to operate in 130 km/h 

winds, and survive winds of 170 km/h. 

Each Jlens system (or ‘orbit’), of which 

14 are planned, will employ two aerostats, 

one with a surveillance radar and the other 

with a fire control radar for the new interceptor 

missile, which will have a range of 

up to 400 km. The Jlens programme was 

motivated by the failure of US forces to 

detect the five HY-2/C-201 Silkworm 

cruise missiles fired at their positions in 

Kuwait during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It 

is currently proceeding on the basis of a 

$ 1.4 billion design and demonstration contract, 

awarded to prime contractor 

Raytheon. This contract includes the delivery 

of two Jlens orbits. 

The decision on Jlens low-rate initial 

production is now due in FY12, and the 

last orbit is to be delivered in 2019. The 

programme is expected to total around 

$ 6.4 billion, each orbit costing approximately 

$ 360 million. 

Sensors 

Long gone are the days when the drone’s 

primary observation weaponry consisted 

of downward shooting wet-film still and 

cine cameras whose precious booty had 

to be laboratory processed before being 

handed over to the analysts. Digital cameras 

came of age in the early 1990s and 

with them the means to transmit live (or 

almost live) imagery down to base. Now 

video cameras easily fit into a thimble 

and are used in the cheapest of drones, 

the body and wing of which are carved 

out of polystyrene foam, which makes 

them almost expendable. 

After the wet film era, and together 

with the inception of their electronic 

counterparts, the next significant step 

that was afforded by the miniaturisation 

of electronics was stabilisation, which 

itself led to what are commonly referred 

to now as stabilised turrets, or balls. 

Granted, the ‘older’ cameras could be 

slewed, but hardly locked on – particularly 

in space-restricted aircraft like drones, 

including the larger types. 

With stabilisation came a host of amenities. 

First and foremost of course, are clearer 

pictures, since not only is the relative 

displacement of the ground target relative 

to the platform compensated, but so are 

the bumps, leaps and side-slips of the aircraft 

in low-altitude turbulent air. 

Secondly, proper stabilisation came to 

the rescue of lock-on. Lock-on (which 

means that, upon command from the 

ground operator, the camera will keep 

staring at a given spot) is obtained by an 

electronic analysis of the pixels in the 

cross-hairs area. If the ‘target’ is a darker 

spot and the movement of the camera’s 

cross-hairs slips into an area of brighter 

neighbouring pixels, the processor will 

send commands to the platform to drive 

the camera back to its original darker spot. 

If one imagines the number of electronic 

commands that such a procedure requires, 

say in one second, one can just as easily 

understand the benefits derived from a 

camera that is readily ‘kept still’, because 

there is a limit (made up of contrast threshold 

and judder speed) beyond which the 

lock-on system will simply give up. 

Finally, stabilisation allows one to 

obtain a permanent and accurate reading 

of the three-dimensional geographical 

co-ordinates of the spot the crosshairs are 

locked onto and, datalink allowing, these 

and the pictures are received and read 

live on the ground. Not only does this 

enable target data to be forwarded to 

command for an artillery intervention, or 

to a bomber aircraft, it also allows the 

drone to directly and steadily illuminate 

the target with a laser beam (if the turret 

is so equipped) to provide a spot for surface- 

or air-launched laser-guided 

weapons to home onto. The ultimate 

refinement is what Flir, for example, 

terms «Geo-lock», meaning that should 

the ball be locked onto an object and that 

an obstacle (a tower, chimney or tall 

building) temporarily cross the aiming 

path, the system will anticipate the platform’s 

motion to immediately and seamlessly 

re-lock onto the original target 

once the obstacle is cleared. 

Evidently, reaction times and the number 

of sensors housed are what make the 

difference between the various systems 

available on the market, but also of 

course, their size and cost. As usual, it is 

the mission that drives the requirement, 

which in turn drives the type of stabilised 

platform and hence the type and size of 

drone that is finally required. 

The most complete stabilised turrets are 

those that can simultaneously house a day 

and low-light camera (CCD), an infrared 

camera, a rangefinder and a laser target 

designator. The leaders in the field of drone 

Northrop Grumman has 

completed flight testing of 

its Vader, a ground target 

moving indicator synthetic 

aperture radar that is able 

to detect slow moving small 

objects such as men and 

animals walking over a 

wide area. (Northrop 

Grumman) 


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turrets are Elbit, Flir, L-3 Wescam, Thales, 

Raytheon, Sagem, Selex Galileo, Tamam 

and Zeiss (in South Africa), but mention 

must also be made of Cloud Cap. Better 

known for its flight management systems 

and inertial measurement sensors, this firm 

also produces a range of small and lightweight 

turrets called Tase. Cloud Cap’s 

Tase, for example, is used in a belly 

retractable mount inside the Arcturus T-20 

belly-landing light drone. 

Another, and perhaps less publicised 

company specialising in lightweight stabilised 

payloads, is Controp, whose 990- 

gram Stamp stabilised turret was recently 

tested onboard a six-kilo Innocon 

Micro Falcon in Israel. The Stamp is 

available as the day vision D-Stamp and 

the night vision U-Stamp. 

There is no ending to progress. A major 

breakthrough was made by Flir, which 

unveiled its new high-definition filming 

turret at the 2009 Paris Air show. Unsurprisingly 

known as the Star Safire HD, this 

ball has (to our knowledge) not yet been 

officially adopted for drone use, but its performance 

has to be seen to be believed. Not 

only can it allow an observer to perfectly 

spot a man at a range of well over 17 km, it 

also offers a perfect image correlation 

between its different sensors. In other 

words, whatever the zooming factor in use, 

one can switch from infrared to colour and 

Apart from being 

renowned for its autopilots, 

Cloud Cap has also 

developed a number of 

lightweight gyrostabilised 

turrets. This T2, for 

example, is the largest and 

similar to the one fitted to 

the Arcturus T-20 (quod 

vide). It has a 200° slew 

rate and weighs 2.27 kilos. 

(Cloud Cap) 

instantly obtain the same picture in the 

other mode (and vice-versa) without 

requiring any reframing or adjustment. It is 

instantaneous, clean and sharp. As for definition, 

the results are staggering, provided 

one uses a high-definition display. 

On a much simpler scale, images can 

also be improved to simplify their 

exploitation. Z Microsystems, for example, 

has developed an algorithm which, 

applied to drone footage, is said to dramatically 

enhance the operator’s ability 

to extract information. 

The next technological leap in terms 

of drone sensors came in the form of the 

radar. Here too, the acceptance of these 

devices by drones results from their 

miniaturisation, but not exclusively: the 

main challenge came under the name of 

power – and not only the wattage 

required, but also the amount of juice the 

onboard generator could produce. Drone 

AAI 5 

Armada International 31, 35 

AUVSI 

C3 

AV (Aerovironment) 

C4 

Defensys 2010 33 

DRS Technologies 7 

Elbit Systems 13 

Honeywell 25 

Index to Advertisers 

radars have been around for a while now, 

particularly for maritime surveillance, 

but the emerging trend is the synthetic 

aperture type. Many will remember the 

truly amazing frames (both in ground 

mapping and moving target indicator 

form) that the prototype of the Northrop 

Grumman J-Stars (a non-solicited development, 

it should be reminded) ushered 

to the Gulf area produced in 1990. Well, 

almost similar results – albeit at shorter 

ranges – can now be obtained from a 

Selex Galileo Picosar installed on rotarywing 

aircraft as small as the Schiebel 

Camcopter S-100. Quite naturally the 

same Picosar can also be used onboard 

the Selex Falco fixed-wing drone. The 

advantage of the radar is twofold: it ‘drills’ 

through night and bad weather, and its 

moving target indicator function allows 

the observer to spot an object (car or person) 

that would otherwise be difficult to 

perceive at long range. 

Talking of moving target indicators, and 

to conclude this overview on sensor novelties, 

Northrop Grumman has recently 

announced that it had completed testing of 

its Vader onboard a Twin Otter. Developed 

for long-endurance drones, this radar has 

demonstrated its ability to detect individuals 

and animals walking over a wide area. 

Unsurprisingly, the Vader programme is 

sponsored by the Joint Improvised Explosive 

Device Defeat Office. Roadside bomb 

detection is the subject of an article in 

Armada 3/2010 page 24 – and indeed one 

of the best ways of finding hidden roadside 

bombs is to first track those who emplace 

them. Better still is to be able to track these 

people on their way back in the hope of discovering 

their base. Drones and Sar radars 

could soon prove to be a vital tandem in 

this unique form of warfare, which sees a 

very odd confrontation between rudimentary 

and sophisticated techniques. a 

L-3 Communications 11, 13 


C2 

RADA 31 

Raytheon 15-17 

Saab 27 

Sagem 9 

Schiebel 29 

Trimble 23 

Compendium Drones 2010 

Supplement to issue 3/2010 

Volume 34, Issue No.3, June/July 2010 

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armada Compendium Drones 2010

It’s so big 

we had to add a day. 

24–27 August 2010 

Colorado Convention Center 

Denver, CO, USA 

We may be outgrowing convention centers, but fortunately there are 

still more days in the week to grow into. That’s what happens when 

you fill 392,000 square feet with more than 350 exhibits, indoor 

air, ground and maritime demonstration areas, indoor static 

space, 140 presentations and daily networking events. Add more 

than 5,000 attendees from the world over and the only way to do it 

all is to add a day. So we did. 

Be there, when the world of unmanned systems comes together. 

symposium.auvsi.org

Sensors - Wescam

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