Sensors - Wescam

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.
24 armada Compendium Drones 2010