v1.5.0 / chapter 10 of 19 / 01 jan 09 / greg goebel / public domain
* Battlefield UAVs are now in use or development all over the world. This chapter discusses battlefield UAV developments in Israel, Canada, and France.
* The Israelis were the prime movers in establishing the battlefield UAV as a standard military weapon. After the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East in 1973, when the Israelis suffered substantial air losses from Soviet built SAMs fired by Arab forces, the Israeli military searched for new technology to ensure they would not have the same problems in the future. This led them to cross paths with Alvin Ellis, who had been born and raised in the US and worked for Ryan on the Firebee and the Lightning Bugs. He emigrated to Israel in 1967 to join Israel Aircraft Industries and work on the Kfir fighter, a derivative of the French Dassault Mirage III/5 fighter but fitted with an American GE J79 engine.
The history of Ellis and the battlefield UAV tends to recall that of Reginald Denny and the target drone. Ellis liked to tinker with RC models, and after the Yom Kippur War he decided that a small drone with a TV camera might be an answer to some of Israeli's battlefield needs. He joined up with an IAI colleague named Yehuda Manor and the two put together a prototype in Manor's garage. They flew the prototype for a short time, but it crashed when one of its two engines failed. Ellis still felt the idea was good and pitched it to IAI management, but was turned down. Undiscouraged, Ellis took the idea to Tadiran, the Israeli electronics conglomerate, and the company funded a second prototype.
The prototype flew in 1973. It was just a large hobbyist's RC airplane, similar in configuration to Reginald Denny's early Radioplane drones. The new prototype was successful and led to a demonstrator named the "Owl" that was fitted with a cheap TV camera. It was demonstrated to Tadiran and military brass in early 1974. Tadiran management was sold on the idea and gave Ellis a contract to develop an operational system named "Mastiff". The Mastiff had a different configuration from the early prototypes, featuring the pusher-propeller twin-boom configuration that would become common for combat surveillance UAVs. The Mastiff was introduced in 1975, but nobody seemed interested.
Ellis did a stint back in the US in the late 1970s working on drone autopilots for American companies, while the Mastiff gathered dust. Only two were sold by 1979. The lack of activity was deceptive. The Israeli military was becoming increasingly interested in battlefield UAVs, and in response IAI management finally decided the company was interested in the concept as well. Tadiran and IAI found themselves in bitter competition for military battlefield UAV contracts. The Israeli military began to buy more Mastiffs, while IAI came up with a competitor with the appropriate name of "Scout" and sold it to the military as well. The Scout, also known as "Zahavan (Oriole)", had a similar configuration to the Mastiff, with a pusher propeller and a twin-boom tail.
In June 1982, the Israelis began major military operations in Lebanon, where they were confronted by Syrian SAMs, which were heavily sited in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. All 28 SAM sites in the Bekaa were destroyed, however, partly through the use of Sampson decoys to get them to reveal their presence, and partly through reconnaissance information obtained by the Mastiff and Scout UAVs.
* Israeli battlefield UAVs had proven a great success, and soon came to the attention of the US military, particularly after the American intervention in Lebanon in 1983. This led to the US Navy's request for a battlefield UAV in 1984, and Tadiran and IAI decided, or were told to, join forces to submit a proposal for the American requirement. The result was an IAI division named "Mazlat", now "Malat".
The US military is reluctant to buy from foreign sources, so foreign companies always team up with an American company to push a sale. AAI had already worked with Tadiran to sell the Mastiff in the US, so AAI was a logical choice, and Mazlat and AAI developed the Pioneer, which won the competition. Since then, Malat has developed more advanced battlefield UAVs, and has collaborated on battlefield UAV developments with partners such as AAI.
* After consolidating production of the Mastiff and Scout, the Malat company continued to sell them in slightly refined versions for over a decade. Both aircraft have fixed landing gear and are generally operated from runways, performing short landings using an arresting-wire hook, though they may be launched using a hydraulic catapult off the back of a truck, and recovered by a net. They both carry imaging sensors in a turret underneath the fuselage.
IAI MALAT MASTIFF:
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
spec metric english
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
wingspan 4.25 meters 13 feet 11 inches
length 3.3 meters 10 feet 10 inches
height 0.89 meters 2 feet 11 inches
payload weight 37 kilograms 81 pounds
empty weight 72 kilograms 170 pounds
launch weight 138 kilograms 304 pounds
maximum speed 185 KPH 115 MPH / 100 KT
service ceiling 4,480 meters 14,700 feet
endurance 7.5 hours
launch scheme Runway or hydraulic catapult.
recovery scheme Runway, parachute, or net
payload Day / night imager.
guidance system Autopilot with radio control backup.
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
IAI MALAT SCOUT:
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
spec metric english
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
wingspan 4.96 meters 16 feet 3 inches
length 3.68 meters 12 feet 1 inches
height 0.94 meters 3 feet 1 inch
payload weight 38 kilograms 84 pounds
empty weight 96 kilograms 211 pounds
launch weight 159 kilograms 350 pounds
maximum speed 176 KPH 109 MPH / 95 KT
service ceiling 4,575 meters 15,000 feet
endurance 7 hours
launch scheme Runway or hydraulic catapult.
recovery scheme Runway, parachute, or net.
payload Day / night imager.
guidance system Autopilot with radio control backup.
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
The Mastiff and Scout remained in service with the Israeli Army until the
early 1990s, when they were replaced by the Malat "Searcher", also known as
the "Meyromit (High Flier)". The Searcher looks almost identical to the
Scout and Pioneer, but is scaled up, and in fact is well over twice the size
of the Scout. The Searcher is powered by a 35 kW (47 HP) piston engine. It
not only features updated avionics and sensor systems as well as greater
endurance, but increased redundancy to improve survivability.
IAI MALAT SEARCHER:
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
spec metric english
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
wingspan 7.65 meters 25 feet 1 inch
length 5.1 meters 16 feet 8 inches
height 1.25 meters 4 feet 1 inch
payload weight 68 kilograms 150 pounds
launch weight 400 kilograms 880 pounds
maximum speed 200 KPH 125 MPH / 110 KT
service ceiling 5,180 meters 17,000 feet
endurance 12 hours
launch scheme Runway or RATO booster.
recovery scheme Runway, parachute, or net.
payload Day / night imager.
guidance system Autopilot with radio control backup.
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
The Israelis are now using the further improved "Searcher II", yet another
scale-up of the basic Scout design with improved endurance. The Israelis
have considered means of silencing the UAVs' engines, whose chain-saw sound
often tips off adversaries to the fact that they are being observed.
IAI MALAT SEARCHER II:
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
spec metric english
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
wingspan 8.54 meters 28 feet
length 5.85 meters 19 feet 2 inches
launch weight 500 kilograms 1,100 pounds
maximum speed 200 KPH 125 MPH / 110 KT
service ceiling 6,100 meters 20,000 feet
endurance 18 hours
launch scheme Runway or RATO booster.
recovery scheme Runway, parachute, or net.
payload Day / night imager.
guidance system Autopilot with radio control backup.
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
Malat also developed a smaller UAV known as the "I-View", with fixed landing
gear, a pusher propeller, and an inverted-vee tail. Australia placed a large
order for I-Views in 2006 but ended up cancelling the contract in 2008.
Nobody else seems to have adopted it.
* The MBD missile division of IAI sells another UAV, the "Harpy", which is an antiradar loitering attack drone. It patrols over a battlefield, waiting for somebody to turn on a radar, and then dives into it, destroying it with a blast-fragmentation warhead. The Harpy is in service with the Israeli Defense Forces, as well as Turkey, India, China, Taiwan, and the Republic of Korea.
The Harpy is a delta-winged machine with finlets on the wingtips. It weighs 135 kilograms (300 pounds), and is 2.7 meters (8 feet 10 inches) long with a span of 2.1 meters (6 feet 10 inches). It is powered by a UAV Engines Limited (UEL) AR731 rotary engine, with 28 kW (37 HP), driving a pusher propeller. Maximum speed is roughly 185 KPH (115 MPH / 100 knots), and endurance is about six hours. Although the Harpy is clearly different in appearance to the Boeing BRAVE 200, the two UAVs are conceptually similar in many ways, and the Harpy has a similar launch scheme. 18 Harpies are carried by a truck, with each UAV in its own sealed container. Three trucks make up a battery, which also includes a mission control center.
A Harpy can be fueled, programmed, and tested inside its container, which is then opened for launch by RATO booster. After launch, the UAV makes its way to its patrol area, following navigational waypoints provided by the command center, and then flies circuits, waiting for a radar to turn on. On finding a radar, it dives into it almost vertically, detonating before impact to ensure maximum damage to the radar site. If the radar is turned off and the Harpy loses target lock, the UAV returns to its patrol. If no radar is spotted by the time the Harpy is running low on fuel, the UAV will self-destruct.
* Another Israeli firm, Silver Arrow, a collaboration between Elbit and Federmann Enterprises, focuses on selling large UAVs, but also sells several small tactical UAVS:
There's not much indication that anyone has adopted these machines either, but Silver Arrow has had substantial success with their larger Hermes machines, as discussed later.
* The Canadians have proven enthusiastic about battlefield UAVs, and in fact have been in the business since the early 1960s. In 1961, Canadair LTD, now part of the Canadian Bombardier group, began development of a battlefield UAV that was eventually designated "CL-89" or "AN/USD-501". The requirements specified a rugged UAV that would be easy to use under battlefield conditions, highly survivable in a combat environment, and provide intelligence day or night in any weather in a timely fashion. Initially, the project was funded by both the Canadian and British governments, but in 1965 West Germany joined in the effort as well. Flight testing began in 1964 with cooperation with the US at the US Army proving grounds in Yuma, Arizona. Initial orders and production for the CL-89 did not begin until the early 1970s. Several hundred were ordered.
The CL-89 looked more like a missile than a UAV, with a torpedo-like fuselage, rectangular cruciform wings, and small triangular cruciform control fins on the nose. It was powered by a Williams Research WR2-6 turbojet engine with 559 N (57 kgp / 125 lbf) thrust fed by twin inlets on each side of the fuselage between the wings.
The CL-89 was launched on a rail from a truck using a RATO booster attached
to the vehicle's tail, with the booster providing 20.2 kN (2,065 kgp / 4,550
lbf) thrust for 2.5 seconds. The CL-89 then continued on a preprogrammed
course, performing its observations and returning to the recovery site,
assisted by a homing beacon. Once at the recovery site, the UAV deployed a
drogue chute to slow down, and then popped out a parachute and two airbags
for a soft landing. Two of the wings folded back when the airbags deployed
to ensure that they weren't damaged on touchdown.
CANADAIR CL-89:
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
spec metric english
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
wingspan 0.94 meters 3 feet 1 inch
length 2.6 meters 8 feet 6 inches
launch weight 108 kilograms 238 pounds
maximum speed 740 KPH 460 MPH / 400 KT
launch scheme RATO booster.
recovery scheme Parachute with airbags.
payload Day / night camera.
guidance system Autopilot.
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
The CL-89 had a modular design, with plug-in packs for the two airbags, a
dispenser for illumination flares, the parachute system, and the sensor
system. Sensor systems included a Zeiss optical camera pack and a
Hawker-Siddeley infrared camera pack. The CL-89 apparently saw limited
service with Canadian, British, and German forces, with the British Army
using it in combat during the Gulf War in 1991.
* The CL-89 led to an improved version, the "CL-289" or "AN/USD-502",
developed as a collaborative program between Canada, France, and West
Germany. The UAV was built by Canadair. It was integrated for German
operations by Dornier, and for French operations by Aerospatiale. It went
into service with West German forces in 1990 and with French forces in 1992.
A few CL-289s that were excess to German needs were later sold to the French.
The CL-289 is very similar to the CL-89 but slightly larger, with the most
visible difference being that the wings of the CL-289 have a leading-edge
sweep and are not rectangular like those of the CL-89.
CANADAIR CL-289:
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
spec metric english
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
wingspan 1.32 meters 4 feet 4 inches
length 3.61 meters 11 feet 10 inches
launch weight 220 kilograms 485 pounds
cruising speed 720 KPH 450 MPH / 390 KT
endurance 40 minutes
launch scheme RATO booster.
recovery scheme Parachute with airbags.
payload Day / night camera.
guidance system Autopilot.
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
The CL-289 can be fitted with a Zeiss film camera pack, or a French SAT
Corsaire infrared imager that can relay real-time imagery to a ground control
station. An "AOLOS-289" upgrade was offered from 2003, with the Germans and
French refitting their CL-289s up to this standard. AOLOS-289 UAVs are
easier to maintain, have GPS navigation capabilities, and a modernized
mission planning and control system. Several European companies have
collaborated to develop a miniature SAR all-weather sensor pack for the
CL-289, but it does not appear to have been fielded yet. Digital optical
imaging packs are being considered.
During the 1990s, the German Army deployed CL-289s to support operations in the former Yugoslavia, seeing combat action during the Kosovo air campaign in the spring of 1999. During this operation, the Germans fielded 18 CL-289s from a launch site in Macedonia, with three being lost. The Germans hope to keep their CL-289s in service until at least 2013.
The CL-289s were flown at altitudes from 200 to 1,000 meters (660 to 3,300 feet), over preprogrammed routes up to 400 kilometers (250 miles) long, with the missions lasting 30 to 40 minutes. The CL-289s could provide real-time video back to the control stations as long as they remained in line of sight, and then they took images on conventional or infrared film. The French also operated their CL-289s over the former Yugoslavia and in the intervention in Afghanistan in 2001:2002.
In the summer of 2002, the Italian Army decided to buy 20 CL-289s, along with a mission control center and two launchers, to support the Italian military commitment to the new European Union Rapid Reaction Force. The CL-289s were bought as an interim solution until a more modern UAV could be obtained.
* From the late 1970s, Canadair also developed a series of helicopter-type battlefield UAVs, beginning with the "CL-227". It was of coaxial configuration, with the rotors at the midbody of a fuselage that looked like a peanut, which is what it was nicknamed. It was powered by a Williams Research turboshaft. Canadair went on to develop the improved "CL-327" and worked on a "CL-427", but it doesn't appear anyone bought them and the product line has disappeared.
* The French operate the CL-289 and the Israeli Hunter, as well as a number of French-designed UAVs. One of the earliest was the Altec "Mini-Avion de Reconnaissance Telepilote (MART)" series, with the MART II serving with French forces in the Gulf War. It was a was a relatively small tactical UAV, with a simple conventional configuration like that of a large RC model. It was catapult-launched and was recovered by parachute.
The French Sagem firm developed a medium-sized UAV, derived from the popular
Meggitt Banshee target, known as the "Crecerelle" ("Kestrel" or
"Sparrowhawk"). Its configuration is much like that of the Banshee, with a
pusher prop, a clipped delta wing, and a single tailfin, though its fuselage
is more cylindrical. It is powered by a 20 kW (26 HP) rotary engine and has
no landing gear, being recovered by parachute and airbags. The Crecerelle
saw action with French forces during the Kosovo campaign in 1999. Meggitt
sells much the same machine as the "Spectre".
SAGEM CRECERELLE:
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
spec metric english
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
wingspan 3.3 meters 10 feet 10 inches
length 2.4 meters 7 feet 11 inches
height 0.7 meters 2 feet 4 inches
launch weight 120 kilograms 265 pounds
speed 240 KPH 150 MPH / 130 KT
ceiling 3,050 meters 10,000 feet
endurance 5 hours
launch scheme RATO booster.
recovery scheme Parachute with airbags.
payload Day / night camera in nose turret.
guidance system Autopilot with GPS and radio control.
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
SAGEM is now selling an improved derivative of the Crecerelle named the
"Sperwer", and it is being operated by the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark,
France, and Greece. The Swedes call it the "Ugglan (Owl)". Like the
Crecerelle, it uses a pusher propeller and has clipped delta wings, but it is
larger, has twin tailfins, a boxier fuselage, and an EO sensor turret under
the nose. It is powered by a 29.5 kW (65 HP) two-stroke Rotax engine.
SAGEM SPERWER:
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
spec metric english
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
wingspan 4.3 meters 14 feet 1 inch
length 2.7 meters 8 feet 10 inches
launch weight 320 kilograms 705 pounds
speed 240 KPH 150 MPH / 130 KT
ceiling 5,000 meters 16,400 feet
endurance 5 hours
launch scheme Pneumatic catapult.
recovery scheme Parachute with airbags.
payload FLIR imager in nose turret.
guidance system Autopilot with GPS and radio control.
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
Sagem has sold well over a hundred Crecerelles and Sperwers. Canada is the
latest customer for the Sperwer, obtaining a system of four low-end UAVs
during the summer of 2003 for use by Canadian forces in Afghanistan. The
Canadians expect to buy more and keep the type in service over the long term.
Sagem followed up the original Sperwer with the "Sperwer B", which is similar to the original variant but features longer endurance. The Canadians are interested in obtaining an additional batch of Sperwers or Sperwer Bs. Sagem has been working on integrating a miniaturized SAR and a satellite datalink into the Sperwer system. Sagem has also experimented with an armed Sperwer, displaying a machine carrying two Israeli Rafael Spike anti-armor missiles at the Paris Air Show in 2005.
* Matra BAE Dynamics developed a UAV named "Dragon", no relation to the BAI Dragon. The Dragon was roughly the same size as and similar to the Crecerelle, with the same pusher-prop delta configuration, except that instead of having a single tailfin mounted on the fuselage, the Dragon had a finlets on each wingtip. It was intended as a jamming platform. It seems to have dropped out of sight, possibly because the French Army acquired the Crecerelle for the jamming mission.
A number of other French firms have built UAVs. CAC Systemes developed a series of small cheap UAVs as targets and for tactical reconnaissance, such as the "Fox" series, and sold some of them in fair numbers. The company was bought out by EADs and that product line seems to have disappeared. Techno-Sud of France developed a small UAV helicopter named "Vigilant", but it, too, appears to have dropped from sight. The international UAV market is competitive, and though many are called, few are chosen, with the majority of projects fading away.
