Sensors - Wescam

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©2010 northrop Grumman corporation see. Know. Act. www.northropgrumman.com/ums AIR FORCE. NAVY. ARMY. MARINE CORps. COAsT GUARD. ONE FORCE. The future of warfare lies in one force — a force that can see, know, and act first. From ISR to command and control to action, Northrop Grumman is in every domain critical to modern warfare. All forces are connected. Faster, smarter, and more efficient. In a word, seamless.
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
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Page 10 and 11: The Lockheed Martin Tracer (Tactica
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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
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Page 33 and 34: ONLINE Stepping ahead of the techno
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Page 38 and 39: turrets are Elbit, Flir, L-3 Wescam

Sensors - Wescam

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