Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)

[KashifAsrar]

I was reading some article on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) some time back. I wonder how many countries are working on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) design and development. Are Pakistan forces up to it? What are inputs from India and China on UAV ? I think it requires a quite sophisticated satellite communication technology to make a UAV really effective. China and India are doing it. I know. But what is the progress so far? Any Idea guys?
Kashif

 

[melb4aust]

Pakistan and India ceratinly are working on UAV's and so as China. But at the moment US and its counter-part Israel are way way ahead of all the countries in the world who are developing UAV's.

We could go alot more in detail when we talk about UAV's as they differ physically and quite dramatically from others bt fulfill the same purpose.

 

[Neo]

As a matter of fact, Pakistan already has designed and built UAV's and one design is even exported to the US in small numbers!

Some parts were developped indigeniously while other were bought off the shelves from several countries.
:flag:

 

[KashifAsrar]

As a matter of fact, Pakistan already has designed and built UAV's and one design is even exported to the US in small numbers!

Some parts were developped indigeniously while other were bought off the shelves from several countries.
:flag:

Can you provide some specs of it !! I mean is it remotely controlled from a ground station, not from a satellite? !! RIGHT !!

Satellite navigated UAVs are the future of the Air warfare !! It is a very important area of development in defence now !!
Kashif

 

[Oracle of Wisdom]

Yup. Its a civilian UAV used by US border force. Its name was Eagle but the US renamed it to Beagle combining Border and Eagle.

 

[melb4aust]

I have a remote control plane which bought couple of days ago, range is abviousely not that good. about 150m to 200m. You can plug the camera on it easily and these cameras are widely available on ebay these days.
Good for spying on neighbours around.:smile:

 

[glyn]

We are still in the early days of unmanned craft, and their possibilities are still being explored by many countries. The most common usage is that of observation, and the craft range in size to 'man-portable' right up to large, although miniature craft weighing virtually nothing are also being tested and at present are suitable for employment only in calm conditions. The vast majority of UAVs are powered with piston engines, but the most sophisticated are turbine powered. There are those who speculate that UAVs will eventually take over from warplanes - including fighters! Fighter jocks everywhere will be peeved if it ever comes to pass, as they would probably end up flying freighters or other 'unromantic' types.

 

[Neo]

As a matter of fact, Pakistan already has designed and built UAV's and one design is even exported to the US in small numbers!

Some parts were developped indigeniously while other were bought off the shelves from several countries.
:flag:

Here it is.

BORDER EAGLE

 

[Neo]

Asian UAV industry: Grand plans
http://adserver.adtech.de/adlink|28...47;key=key1+key2+key3+key4;nodecode=yes;link=

Asian manufacturers are carving themselves out a niche for close- and short-range tactical UAVs. Now they want a larger slice of the global market


Long-standing involvement in the unmanned air vehicle sector by a variety of Asian aerospace and defence manufacturers has seen increasingly ambitious concepts in the high- and medium-altitude class in recent years. To date, however, none of those programmes have progressed beyond the design stage because of their high development costs and a limited customer base beyond immediate national requirements.

http://www.flightglobal.com/assets/getAsset.aspx?ItemID=12023

© Flight International​

Integrated Dynamics developed the Desert Hawk two - vehicle system for Pakistani army

Instead, Asian manufacturers are proving to be at their most successful in the close- and short-range tactical segments, largely on the back of military requirements and the relative accessibility of the technologies involved in this part of the UAV market. Asian manufacturers are also showing themselves to be emerging as genuine innovators here, led by firms such as Singapore Technologies Aerospace and the South Korean-based Ucon Systems. Out-of-the-box concepts have appeared, including a hand-launched mini-rocket UAV – designated Firefly – developed by Integrated Dynamics of Pakistan and released on to the international market late in 2005.

http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/3/24/205557/Asian+UAV+industry+Grand+plans.html

 

[KashifAsrar]

Plane flies on power of 5 light bulbs

It’s the ultimate in fuel economy. The largest unmanned aircraft to rely solely on hydrogen fuel has flown successfully during tests, livescience.com reported. The plane, with a 22-footwingspan, is powered by a fuelcell system that generates 500-watts — equal to five bright light bulbs.
“That raises a lot of eyebrows,” said Adam Broughton, a research engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory. “Five hundred watts is plenty of power for a light bulb, but not for the propulsion system of an aircraft this size.”
The design and geometry of the aircraft and the controlling subsystem technology allowed the feat.
Broughton and his colleagues used creative ways to get rid of extra weight on the aircraft, as well as reducing drag. The researchers also miniaturised the components of the aircraft to fit within a smaller framework. For example, they borrowed a hydrogen tank from a paintball gun.
The plane flew as high as 12 feet and stayed airborne for up to a minute at a time. Fuel cells create electrical current by converting hydrogen and oxygen into water. The advantage of this technology is that it’s pollution-free. These fuel cells, however, don’t produce enough power for the propulsion of larger aircrafts. But they may provide an alternative for smaller and slower vehicles such as the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
“We’re saying to the world that this is a viable power solution,” Broughton said.
UAVs provide a potentially low cost alternative to satellites and could be used to track hurricanes, patrol borders and do military reconnaissance.
The researchers will present details of the project at the Society of Automotive Engineers’ Power System Conference in New Orleans in November. AGENCIES

 

[EagleEyes]

Lockheed Martin is just about to create a UCAV variant of Joint Strike Fighter. I believe it will have some enhancements and capabilities to shoot down ground targets effectively, with more pay load, and effective air-to-air engagement.

Lockheed Martin Reveals New UAVs
By PAUL RICHFIELD


Hard on the heels of its July unveiling of the Polecat high altitude research UAV, Lockheed Martin has revealed plans for a diverse range of new unmanned combat aircraft — some bordering on the exotic.
Among them are an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a fan-in-wing vertical take-off and landing aircraft known as the Various, a morphing-wing Hunter-Killer, the submarine-launched Cormorant and a hypersonic “deep strike” aircraft called the Falcon.
“This, along with the Polecat, is our way to get back into the unmanned systems business,” said Frank Mauro, director of UAV programs at Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs unit in Palmdale, Calif., otherwise known as the Skunk Works. “A little of it is playing catch-up; a little of it is leapfrogging forward.”
First up may be the pilotless F-35, which Mauro described as Lockheed Martin’s way of compensating for its absence from the Pentagon’s Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) bid, which aims to provide unmanned strike aircraft for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy.
In operation, manned F-35s would control up to four UCAVs through an aerial wireless Internet setup, Mauro said. This would eliminate the need for satellite communications while allowing the removal of sensors from the drones, which would serve solely as bomb carriers.
Initial plans show the unmanned F-35 retaining its cockpit and canopy, though a follow-on version would eliminate those features and use the space for additional fuel.
“We’re focused on our manned F-35 now,” Mauro said, “but will pick up the unmanned version as interest among the military grows. And, unlike J-UCAS, we have a vehicle flying now.”
Development of the Various, a ducted-fan UAV capable of vertical flight, is at an earlier stage. This aircraft is slated to meet a naval requirement for a 6,000-to-8,000-pound vehicle to replace the Firescout, a UAV based on a light civil helicopter. Wind tunnel testing of Various models is underway, Mauro said, and several wing configurations, including morphing and/or telescoping, are under consideration.
Adjustable wings are a key aspect of the Hunter Killer UCAV, which aims for the ability to dash like a strike aircraft but loiter like a dedicated reconnaissance platform. Achieving a four-to-one ratio between the high speed and the low-end is the goal, Mauro said.
Lockheed Martin is partnering with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on Morphing Vehicle technology, and plans are to use a small demonstrator to prove that in-flight control can be maintained during the shape-shifting process. Subsequent tests with a larger vehicle are expected to evaluate this approach under mission conditions.
Cormorant, a stealthy, submarine-launched UCAV powered by a pair of Tomahawk cruise missile engines, is also in its first phase. Engineers are seeking to prove that this vehicle — also with morphing wings — can be launched from the missile silo of a converted ballistic missile submarine, fly a mission, and be recovered, perhaps by an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV).
“They want to see if they can seal the vehicle, crash it into the ocean and get it back into the tube,” Mauro said, adding that the aircraft will land in the water with its wings in the extended position.
Falcon, the hypersonic UCAV, addresses an anticipated Air Force requirement for an unmanned “deep strike” aircraft able to reach anywhere in the world from the continental U.S. in two hours or less. Propulsion is the key to this capability, and Falcon is slated to employ turbine engines that morph into supersonic combustion ramjets, or Scramjets.
Designed around a weapons load of around 16,000 pounds, this Boeing B-52-sized drone could one day fly for 5 hours at Mach 10 (7,612 mph) at the edge of space. So far, the only publicly-revealed aircraft to achieve this speed range is NASA’s X-43A experimental aircraft, which used Scramjet power to reach Mach 9.6 in November 2004.
“These are the dreams we’re putting our money on,” Mauro said.
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=2039577&C=america