Latest MALE UAS from IAI/Malat – Super Heron

 

Skylark I - LEX - Mini UAS from Elbit Systems

 

IAI’s Malat Naval Rotary Unmanned Air Vehicle

India’s land borders are extensive thus air surveillance is the ideal medium of surveillance and gathering intelligence. Accordingly India started its development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) besides importing UAVs. Israel and the US are the leading countries in the development of UAVs. India selected Heron and Searcher UAVs from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). These have been also imported for the Indian Navy as well as for the Indian Air Force (IAF). Heron is a medium altitude long endurance (MALE – about 30,000 feet) and thus is being used in the mountainous region. Searcher has a ceiling of about 15,000 feet and is being employed in the plains (Searcher Mk1) and Searcher Mk2 is being used in the desert terrain.

Israeli UAVs

IAI and Elbit manufacture a very large variety of strategic and tactical UAVs, some of which are:

Israel Aerospace Industries
Super Heron: This is the latest MALE UAS made by IAI/Malat. The Super Heron was added as a link between the Heron and the Heron TP UAV systems. It has a new advance propulsion system specifically developed for the Super Heron, provision for large and heavy payloads, place for a large SATCOM antenna, advanced avionics, endurance (up to 45 hours), line of sight mission radius of 250 km, mission radius with airborne data relay or ground-based data relay of 350 km and with SATCOM it is up to 1,000 km.

Heron TP: Heron TP is an advanced, multi-purpose MALE UAS with an extended performance envelope and a variety of payloads capability with an endurance of 36 hours and altitude of 45,000 ft.

Searcher MkIII: Searcher MkIII is a multi-mission tactical UAS used for surveillance, reconnaissance, target acquisition, artillery adjustment and damage assessment. It has an endurance of 18 hours, range of 350 km and altitude of 23,000 ft.

Other UAVs: Panther is a uniquely designed fixed-wing AVTOL UAV System with tilt-rotor capability that provides a remarkable solution to a wide variety of tasks when pinpoint automatic takeoff and landing is a requirement. The BirdEye 650D is an advanced, affordable, long endurance mini UAS and an enhanced version of the BirdEye 650. It provides real-time stabilised day/night imagery data for urban operation and over-the-hill intelligence.

Elbit
Hermes 900: Hermes 900 is based on Hermes 450 UAS. It is a multirole, MALE which features over-the-horizon, persistent multi-mission, multi-payload capabilities with payload carrying capacity of 350 kg. It is capable of performing missions for area dominance, persistent intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance. Hermes 900 also can perform ground support and maritime patrol missions, and offers the capability for integrated multiplatform, multi-sensor operation. It has maximum payload of 350 kg, endurance up to 36 hours and a service ceiling of 30,000 ft.

Skylark I - LEX - Mini UAS: This is the latest evolution of the battle-proven, high-performance Skylark I system, which operates at battalion level.

US Drones

AeroVironment
RQ-11BR Raven: RQ-11B Raven is a lightweight UAV designed for rapid deployment and high mobility for both military and commercial application’s requiring low-altitude reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition. Raven B is the standard small UAV for the US Army which has a line-of-sight range of 10 km or more with an altitude of 30-152 m AGL. AeroVironment’s Tactical ISR portfolio also consists of lightweight UAVs like Puma AE, Wasp AE and Shrike VTOL which are designed for providing ISR and communications, including real-time tactical reconnaissance, tracking, combat assessment and geographic data, directly to a small tactical unit or individual soldier.

Northrop Grumman
BQM-155/RQ-5/MQ-5 Hunter: The BQM-155A takes off from normal runways, but booster-assisted zero-length launches are also possible. Mission radius for single vehicle flight is about 150 km, which can be extended to 300 km using a second Hunter as airborne relay. Maximum endurance is about 12 hours. The company has also developed the MQ-5B, a Hunter variant which has been further optimised for the multi-mission role. Hunter is being replaced by MQ-1C Gray Eagle.

Bat UAV: Bat is family of multi-mission UAVs that is designed for tactical missions such as counter IED, communications relay, signals intelligence, electronic warfare which has a land and a maritime version.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems
Gray Eagle UAV: GA-ASI’s Gray Eagle extended range/multipurpose UAV is an essential part of the US Army’s aviation modernisation plan, which is an advanced derivative of the combat-proven Predator. It has an endurance of 25 hours, speeds up to 167 knots true airspeed, can operate up to 29,000 feet, and carries 488 kg of internal and external payload.

Maritime UAVs

Many type of land-based UAVs can be used in maritime role. India is already using Heron and Searcher of IAI. Elbit’s Hermes 900 can also perform maritime patrol missions. Deck-based systems are based on rotary-wing. Some examples are given below.

Current Naval Rotary Unmanned Air Vehicles (NRUAVs)
IAI/Malat’s NRUAV: This is an unmanned helicopter, which can be operated from the ship’s deck. IAI/Malat’s NRUAV system provides multi-layered ISR missions and is based on Malat-made helicopter modification suite for existing, proven, manned naval vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) platforms. It features automatic VTOL from moving naval platforms and can operate by day and night. It has an endurance of 6 hours and a ceiling of 15,000 ft. It can also provide anti-submarine intelligence and electronic warfare.

Airbus Defence and Space Tanan 300: TANAN 300 is a newgeneration compact VTOL Tactical UAS for maritime and land missions. It has a range up to 100 nm (180 km) and a 50-kg payload.

Northrop Grumman’s MQ-8B Fire Scout: Fire Scout VTOL tactical UAV provides exceptional situation awareness and precision targeting support for the US Navy. With a total endurance of eight plus hours, the Fire Scout can provide more than six hours time on station with a standard payload at 110 nm (200 km) from the launch site. A pair of Fire Scouts can provide continuous coverage at 110 nm.