Two World War II fighters, a Spitfire and Hurricane fly in formation during a flight display commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Photo: Crown Copyright/MOD 2010
On the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain this week the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) performed commemorative flypasts and displays to mark the occasion. These flights culminate with a flypast over the cabinet War Rooms where Robert Hardy read the famous speech by Mr Winston Churchill “never has so much been owed by so many to so few”.
As part of the aerial displays this summer, synchronised flights were demonstrated by an RAF Typhoon and Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Spitfire. The Typhoon, from 29 Sqn Royal Air Force Coningsby seen below flew last flight this year at RAF Leuchars. The Typhoon was flown by Flt Lt Walton. The BBMF Spitfire was flown by Sqn Ldr Mason of RAF Wittering, a volunteer pilot with the Flight. “The iconic image that the pairing of these aircraft presents is one of inspiration from those who fought in the Battle of Britain to those who still fly and fight in the front line today.” Said Sqn Ldr Mason.
As part of the flight displays this summer, synchronised flight displays by an RAF Typhoon and Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Spitfire were demonstrated. The last flight this year was flown recently at RAF Leuchars. The Typhoon was flown by Flt Lt Walton from 29 Sqn RAF Coningsby. The Spitfire was flown by Sqn Ldr Mason, a volunteer pilot frm RAF Wittering. Photo: Crown Copyright/MOD 2010
The solar powered drone mission continues to circle above the US Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, as part demonstrating the solar powered drone's capability to fly a two week mission. Photo: QinetiQ
Zephyr, the solar-powered, high altitude long endurance (HALE) unmanned vehicle developed by QinetiQ has been flying for the past week, smashing a number of long-standing world records.
The solar powered drone mission continues above the US Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, as part demonstrating the solar powered drone’s capability to fly a two week mission. “By being able to remain over a location for weeks or months at a time, it can usefully deliver a host of practical and more affordable solutions to both civil and military customers” said Jon Saltmarsh, Zephyr Program Director at QinetiQ.
A Larger Zephyr
The current goal is to fly for a further week and prove Zephyr is the world’s first truly eternal plane, capable of providing a low-cost, persistent surveillance capability over months rather than days. Potential applications include earth observation and communications relay in support of a range of defense, security and commercial requirements.
Unlike conventional manned or unmanned aircraft now being operated, Zephyr does not need to return to base at regular intervals for re-fuelling or servicing which also helps minimize the logistical supply chain and extend its operational capability.
Around 50% larger than the previous Zephyr, technical changes now mean it has a 22.5m wingspan to accommodate more batteries that are combined with a totally new integrated power management system. The entirely new aerodynamic shape and high “T” tail also contribute to reduce drag and improve performance. The payload capacity will meet a number of key surveillance and communication requirements already demonstrated by Zephyr over the past three years. Zephyr’s ultra-lightweight carbon-fibre design also means it weighs in at just over 50Kg.
“The current Zephyr aircraft is a genuine breakthrough design, drawing on the latest technology and represents a massive leap forward in engineering excellence incorporating an entirely new wing design.” Saltmarsh explained. Launched by hand, the aircraft flies by day on solar power delivered by amorphous silicon solar arrays no thicker than sheets of paper that cover the aircraft’s wings. These are also used to recharge the lithium-sulphur batteries, supplied by Sion Power Inc, which are used to power the aircraft by night. Together they provide an extremely high power to weight ratio on a continuous day/night cycle, thereby delivering persistent on-station capabilities.
Claiming the World Endurance Record for UAVs
On July 23, 2010 Zephyr successfully landed after 14 days (336 hours) and 21 minutes flying over Arizona. and is now awaiting official confirmation of its world record status. Following the flight, QinetiQ is claiming three world records for the Zephyr:
the absolute duration record for an Unmanned Air Vehicle – being filed at 336 hrs / 22 minutes
the duration record for a UAV (in the U/1.c / 50-500Kg category) – time as above
the absolute altitude record for a UAV (in the above category) – being filed at 70,740ft (21,561m)
This record far exceeds the unofficial world record for longest duration unmanned flight of 82 hours, 37 minutes set in 2008 and already held by Zephyr, and is well in excess of the current official world record of 30 hours 24 minutes set by Northrop Grumman’s RQ-4A Global Hawk on 22 March 2001. Upon landing, plans to claim the world record for HALE UAV flight endurance. The company invited the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), the world air sports federation, to oversee the flight and an FAI Official has been monitoring progress at the Yuma Proving Ground.
Zephyr prepared for its two-week mission, in July 2010, when the HALE drone has broke the world record for endurance flight of an unmanned aircraft. Photo: QinetiQ
07/23/2010 Update: QinetiQ to land its Zephyr solar powered aircraft
QinetiQ will today bring Zephyr, its solar powered high-altitude long endurance (HALE) Unmanned Air System (UAS) back to earth after two weeks in the air, smashing a number of long-standing official and unofficial world records.
Zephyr was launched on 09 July and is currently still flying above the US Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. Today Zephyr will have been aloft for 14 nights continuously, achieving the objective of the trial and setting a number of performance and altitude records. At this point QinetiQ’s Zephyr team in Yuma will bring the aircraft back to earth.
F-35 AF-1 & AF-2 Arrival at Edwards Air Force Base. Photo: Lockheed Martin
Our first impressions from the Farnborough AirShow this year are that short termed, urgent requirements, have finally reached the air forces, traditionally known for their long term visionary and meticulous planning processes.
The recent conflicts fought at high profile, in Southwest Asia and Iraq, leave the military with minimal tolerance for error and, under these circumstances, they want everything right now and at the lowest cost.
With the absence of a major enemy, western air forces tend big ticket spending on buying new aircraft, while dragging procurement decisions on almost everything that does not directly support current combat requirements.
Fighter aircraft development and procurement programs are only one symbol of this trend. With a single, next generation fighters dominating the market for the foreseeable future, and the apparent commitment to buy few thousands F-35s over the next decades, the options open for air forces drill down to two – act now or wait and see. Some have already made their choices. The Canadians have recently decided in favor of the next generation fighter, as well as the Australians and British, but firm orders for production quantities are still pending. The U.S. Marine Corps are the most desperate for the new fighter, and the new accelerated test plan, currently underway, seems to brighten the future for the corps’ aviation, held in limbo as its current Vertical Take Off Short Landing (V/STOL) AV-8B and F/A-18C/D Hornets wear out under an extremely intensive operational regime.
Lockheed Martin, which has the highest stakes in the next generation fighter, opted to avoid the debate and visibly maintained a low profile with its F-35 program at Farnborough, leaving the scene for the competition. Wether this was a wise move or not, the future will tell, but it should certainly be scrutinized and questioned by the media.
Our first impressions from the Farnborough AirShow this year are that short termed, urgent requirements, have finally reached the air forces, traditionally known for their long term visionary and meticulous planning processes.
The recent conflicts fought at high profile, in Southwest Asia and Iraq, leave the military with minimal tolerance for error and, under these circumstances, they want everything right now and at the lowest cost.
With the absence of a major enemy, western air forces tend big ticket spending on buying new aircraft, while dragging procurement decisions on almost everything that does not directly support current combat requirements.
Fighter aircraft development and procurement programs are only one symbol of this trend. With a single, next generation fighters dominating the market for the foreseeable future, and the apparent commitment to buy few thousands F-35s over the next decades, the options open for air forces drill down to two – act now or wait and see. Some have already made their choices. The Canadians have recently decided in favor of the next generation fighter, as well as the Australians and British, but firm orders for production quantities are still pending. The U.S. Marine Corps are the most desperate for the new fighter, and the new accelerated test plan, currently underway, seems to brighten the future for the corps’ aviation, held in limbo as its current Vertical Take Off Short Landing (V/STOL) AV-8B and F/A-18C/D Hornets wear out under an extremely intensive operational regime.
F-35 AF-1 & AF-2 Arrival at Edwards Air Force Base. Photo: Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin, which has the highest stakes in the next generation fighter, opted to avoid the debate and visibly maintained a low profile with its F-35 program at Farnborough, leaving the scene for the competition. Wether this was a wise move or not, the future will tell, but it should certainly be scrutinized and questioned by the media.
MBDA team Concept Vision leader and a user representative show the new concept weapons at Farnborough 2010. Photo: Tamir Eshel
MBDA has embarked on an innovative evolution of next generation weapon systems designed to empower future infantry and dismounted warfighters with advanced, yet unavailable capabilities. Ideas for the new concepts were received from MBDA employees Throughout the world, and from military users and veterans. According to Michael Mew, Lead ENgineer for the Concept Visions program, the new weapons could be developed based partly on technologies already available, and could be demonstrated through the upcoming years. ‘This program sets our goals and could challenge our design teams for years to come’ Mew told Defense Update.
MBDA Inc. Unveiled the TiGER at Farnborough 2010, this loitering small weapon is proposed for the U.S. Army's LMAMS program, developed for teh U.S> Special Operations Command. Photo: Tamir Eshel
Another system unveiled by MBDA Inc is the Tactical Grenade Extended Range (‘TiGER’), a loitering weapon built around a small warhead weighing 1 pound, comprising two 40mm grenades packed in tandem and inserted into a small micro UAV carried in a small tube. TiGER can be used to identify and attack key positions and targets of opportunity, posing an immediate threat to tactical units and special forces teams. With a warhead twice as effective as a standard grenade, TiGER extends the unit lethality to a distance up to two miles, effectively engaging most ypes of threats, including short-lived targets.
The weapon is prepared for use within less than a minute, deploying inflateable wings with compressed air bottle that comes with the kit. The air vehicle is powered by a sall battery, and can fly to a distance of up to two miles, loiter over the target for several minutes and dive onto the target upon operator command. The TiGER can fly to its target through several pre-designated waypoints, providing ‘strike on demand’ opportunities targeting light vehicles, mortar crews or snipers with high effectiveness.
MBDA is proposing TiGER for the U.S. military Lethal Miniature Aerial Munition System (LMAMS) program, pursued by teh U.S. Special Operations Command. LMAMS is designed to provide a soldier carried, ground launched Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) loitering precision guided system organic at the small unit level that will allow unprecedented engagement of enemy combatants without exposing the Warfighter to direct enemy fires.
The Army defined three distinct mission phases for the weapon – mission planning, fly out, and terminal engagement. Once a mission is planned, using geolocation, location reference or direct observation form the operator, field observers or networkes sensors, the GCS will handle the mission autonomously flying the weapon to the area of interest where the weapon enters a loitering mode acquiring the target by visual means. In the terminal engagement phase, the LMAMS will have the ability to automatically track a target designated by the operator in the terminal phase or allow the operator to manually control the system as needed to focus on a specific area or point of interest. The operator shall have the ability to abort and or redirect the flight path prior to impact.
MBDA's TiGER uses inflatable wings deployed with compressed air bottle supplied with the kit. Other elements in the kit are PDA size command and control unit, enabling the user to monitor the flight, select, identify and engage a target from a distance of up to two miles. Photo: Tamir Eshel.
The SABER small air bomb extended range (SABER) from MBDA is designed as a glide weapon deployed by smal UAVs such as teh Shadow, which will be able to carry multiple weapons, engaging targets off-axis flying at medium altitude, beyond enemy anti-aircraft fire. The unpowered weapon does not have distinctive launch signature and therefore maintains the element of surprise.
MBDA Missile Systems have unveiled a small laser+GPS/INS guided weapon developed with company funding at MBDA’s U.S. subsidiary. The weapon called Small Air Bomb Extended Range (SABER) can be configured as a rocket or glide weapon, according to the customer’s requirements. The dual mode warhead uses blast-fragmentation or shaped charge, for reduced collateral damage and penetration effect. The SABER uses a semi-active laser seeker for terminal guidance, and GPS/INS mid-course navigation enabling the weapon to fly off-axis, regardless to the direction of the launching platform. An alternative seeker employing TV/IR sensor with data-link communications enabling ‘man in the loop’ control is currently in development. Douglas J. Denneny, Vice President of Government Relations at MBDA Inc. told Defense Update that the SABER could be available for operational use following the completion of flight tests anticipated in the ‘upcoming months’. The unpowered version weighs only 10 pounds, and its range is dependent on the launch altitude, with the rocket powered version adapted for low altitude launch, weighing about 30 pounds.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner departing Farnborough, escorted by two Battle of Britain Memorial flight Spitfires, on a 'Photo Op' flyby. Photo: Tamir Eshel
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner departed today from Farnborough airfield in the U.K., back to back to the USA, to continue the flight testing program.
The Dominator and the Guardian are an unmanned and optionally manned platforms based on the Diamond Aircraft DA42 Twin Star twin engine aircraft. The Dominator is a fully autonomous platform modified by Aeronautics Defense Systems from Israel. Since Dominator is based on a comerciall airframe certified by civil aviation authorities worldwide, it has immediate access to the military and commercial market.
The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and Israel’s Aeronautics defense Systems have signed a memorandum of understanding to market the DA42 Dominator unmanned aircraft system internationally. Aeronautics and Austrian based Diamond have been developing the Dominator, based on an unmanned version of the Diamond’s Aircraft DA-42 twin-star two-engine aircraft for the past two years. The Dominator made its first flight in July 2009. The aircraft has recently flew with an advanced payload configuration, carrying a wide area electro-optical aerial surveillance payload providing potential users unique persistent coverage of large areas.
According to Chris Chadwick, president of Boeing Military Aircraft, the collaboration with Aeronautics to market the DA42 Dominator will expand Boeing’s offering with a wider range of MALE solutions to current and potential customers, both domestically and internationally.
Diamond Aircraft offers the manned aerial surveillance platform - Guardian for law enforcement, homeland security and civilian missions. As a manned platform, Guardian can fly in civilian airspace, where UAVs cannot.
The DA42 Dominator is designed for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions with an all-composite construction that provides durability, reduced maintenance and lower aircraft weight to enhance mission endurance.
The DA42 is marketed as an optionally piloted vehicle in the USA by Aurora Flight Sciences. An unmanned system based on the DA42 is also offered by the Russian company Irkut.
SR-30 rotary UAV displayed in flight during the Farnborough Airshow 2010
The SR-30 UAS from the U.S. company Rotomotion, displayed in flight by Advanced UAV Technology (AUAVT), passing by the Farnborough control tower. This unmanned vehicle it was the first UAS to receive CAA permit to fly in non segregated airspace. It is powered by a gasoline engine. AUAVT plans to introduce another version based on the SR-30 called AT-30 with a dry weight of 7 kg, designed to carry more than half that weight – up to 4.5 kg of payload for more than three hours. (210 minutes). According to AUAVT it will be equipped with EO/IR payload, and despite the use of gasoline engine, its acoustic signature is only 55 dB at 50 meters.
The company offers a full line of Rotary UVS, carrying payloads from 4 to 700 kg on missions from less than an hour tomore than six hours. AT-10 is a small rotary wing UAV designed for surveillance missions. It can be configured with a large stabilized sensor payload. AUAVT offers a series of custom designed Rotary UAVs that can be designed for different missions, from a mini, back-packable electrically powered ‘whispering’ AT-10 ultra quiet helicopter (less than 40dB at 50 meters) carrying a 1.5 kg payload for up to 40 minutes to the AT-1000, shown below in the static area, carrying up to 350 kg payload on a 6.5 hour mission.
All systems are controlled with a computerized, hand held GCS offering ‘point and click’ routing, and joystick and touch screen operation for payload control. Video telemetry utilized IP based communications. Photos: Tamir Eshel
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