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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 10 armada Compendium Drones 2010
INTEGRATION AND MISSION CHALLENGES HAVE YOU GROUNDED? PREVENT THEM WITH L-3 WESCAM. MX-20HD MX-15HDi MX-15Di MX-10 A160T Hummingbird photo courtesy of The Boeing Company. There’s a reason why our MX -Series of EO/IR imaging and targeting systems operates from today’s leading UAV platforms. Addressing both legacy platforms and new product introductions, the MX-Series is continuously upgraded to combat industry-wide integration and mission challenges. Series enhancements include smaller-sized turrets with lower ground clearance, the reduction of LRUs for simplified cabling and lighter integration weights, fully digital 1080p HD technology for broadened situational awareness, and advanced steering, pointing and tracking software for precise target location accuracy. To learn more, visit www.wescam.com. WESCAM L-3com.com
Page 1 and 2: Compendium by Drones Europe Wakens
Page 3 and 4: INTERNATIONAL: The trusted source f
Page 5 and 6: 791 hybrid demonstrator, which firs
Page 7 and 8: CASTING A LONGER SHADOW UNMANNED CA
Page 10 and 11: The Lockheed Martin Tracer (Tactica
Page 14 and 15: The U-Tacs Watch - keeper took to t
Page 16 and 17: fly the majority of the US Air Forc
Page 18 and 19: Raytheon delivers proven ISR with i
Page 20 and 21: A160T Hummingbird Boeing 10.67 10.9
Page 22 and 23: Aerostar 4.50 Payload: 50 kg Stabil
Page 24 and 25: 25,000 ft, and a longer span for IS
Page 26 and 27: tomer be found, the Evo could make
Page 28 and 29: The 54 Watchkeepers for the British
Page 30: span, twin-engined Rustom prototype
Page 33 and 34: ONLINE Stepping ahead of the techno
Page 36 and 37: Even light helicopter drones, like
Page 38 and 39: turrets are Elbit, Flir, L-3 Wescam

Sensors - Wescam

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