Sensors - Wescam

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
28 armada Compendium Drones 2010