Proteus, the shape changer: Northrop Grumman, through Burt Rutan's unconventional aircraft design approach, has recently explored the unmanned bomber path with a weapon drop test from Scaled Composites Proteus on 24 February, although in this instance the aircraft was crewed.

The test was conducted over Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada and was aimed at demonstrating the possibility of releasing a relatively heavy weapon--in this case a 500-pound, inert, low-drag, general purpose bomb--from an aircraft such as the Proteus (see title photograph). A Northrop Grumman spokesman told the author that <<no sensors or ground stations were involved>>, the main objective at this stage being to analyse the behaviour of the aircraft with a belly-carried weapon pre- and post-separation before moving on to other testing.

The choice of the Proteus was directed by several parameters. The first is that the design--effectively a biplane--is extremely stable and allows for high altitude flight and long endurance (in a strange twist of events, about three weeks after the Northrop Grumman test, Steve Fossett beat the round-the-world non-stop flight record in 67 hours, two minutes and 38 seconds using an aircraft designed by the same Burt Rutan).

In the case of the Northrop Grumman project, the stability afforded by the Proteus is further enhanced by its ability to carry several weapons in a centreline position, which means that if only one bomb is released, the aircraft will not suffer from any aerodynamic asymmetry, as would be the case of an underwing-armed aircraft.

Another aspect that marked the preference for the Proteus is that it is ready, tested and available, because the other objective is to use the Proteus in a bomber drone role, the only external changes being the blanking of the current 'portholes'. The aircraft will then be known as the Model 395. Northrop Grumman's press release dated 3 March 2005 states that the test is <<the latest in a series of company-funded activities focused on addressing the US Department of Defense's expanding medium-altitude long endurance UAV requirements>>. Asked why then use an aircraft able to fly at 60,000 feet with a 907-kg payload to conduct Male missions, the same company official explained that first the aircraft would not be able to reach these altitudes with such external stores, but that it would still be able to cruise above the weather, i.e. at about 40,000 feet, and yet remain aloft for 16 hours. As it turns out, the official explained, without its crew [and the paraphernalia that goes with it], the Model 395 would have a payload of 1360 kg and offer a 100-cubic-inch internal volume which could be very useful for further applications such as synthetic aperture radar, elint and sigint missions. <<But doesn't Northrop Grumman already have an aircraft called Global Hawk for this type of mission?>> the author asked. To which he replied: <<this [the Model 395] is the Chevy of UAVs! And remember that at the time, both the U-2 and the SR-71 were used [...] different aircraft for the same missions>>, implying different circumstances.

Shadow 200

The battle for highest logged flight hours is now hitting the drone world as well. And this is fair enough. AAI recently announced that the operational fleet of Shadow 200s had exceeded the 28,000-hour mark since being ushered into service with the US Army in 2002, and chalked up 9915 missions by 1 February 2005 with+ 70 per cent of these conducted in <<the harsh combat environment>> of Operation Iraqi Freedom. To date AAI has delivered 24 systems to the US Army and to the National Guard, while another nine are forthcoming.

From Russia ...

... and fired from the Splav Smerch multiple rocket launcher is now the R90. Developed by Kazan-based Enics and unveiled at the Idex exhibition that took place in Abu Dhabi in February 2005, the R90 is launched and released over the area to be watched by an 800-kg liquid propellant rocket. It has apparently been recently put into service as an expendable artillery drone both for observation and damage assessment missions. These are effected under a pre-programmed course. It has a range of 70 km, is powered by an Enics M44D pulse jet that gives it an endurance of 30 minutes and transmits images from its stabilised television camera via a datalink.

Also from Enics, but now joining the microlight league is the delta-winged Eleron. It comes with its two hinged half-wings folded upward over the fuselage in a little backpack-carried case and is launched by a hand-held bungee catapult and recovered by parachute. Like all current microlight drones, it is electrically powered--in this instance a 300-Watt brushless motor. Its roll-stabilised colour camera sends real-time images to base via data-link over a mission radius of ten km. Navigation is based on GPS with up to 99 pre-programmed waypoints.

More Micro

Also making its debut at Idex 2005 was the RemoEye 006 from Ucon. This Korean company was in the Idex limelight for the ground control station it developed for the Schiebel S-100 (see Idex report in this issue) that is being developed specifically for the Emirates. This six-kilo aircraft is readied in under five minutes and hand launched. Its standard payload is a television although a thermal camera can be installed as an option, explained a company spokesman. Like most aircraft of this category, flight is preplanned but alterable, and landing is belly or deep stall. The air data processor (UAFC300) and autopilot (UAFC200) are proprietary--the latter unit weighs 500 grams and can handle up to 256 waypoints.

Combat Drones

In a totally different corner of the drone spectrum, Raytheon has announced that it had been cleared to proceed with the production of the X-band thin aperture radar for the J-Ucas, following completion of the proof-of-concept phase of the development contract awarded in April 2004. Although primarily intended for the J-Ucas programme, the radar is so much lighter than existing types--this could help it find application not only in smaller unmanned aircraft, but also in traditional aeroplanes.

Warning

There will be no Drone Update in the next issue of Armada International as indeed this will be accompanied by our now traditional supplement Complete Guide to Drones which will cover all the latest aspects of unmanned air vehicles. It will be widely distributed free-of charge at the Paris Air Show and will feature a large illustrated fold out (and wall-mountable) poster depicting all the principal drones currently used or under development around the world.

Proteus. Er, Whom?

Proteus was a Greek mythology god--a sea god and son of Poseidon--who rived with the seals. He had the ability to change his own shape, and if one managed to reach him and cope with his mutations, he would tell everything one needs to know about the past and future.

As announced in the last Armada Drone Update (see issue 1/2005, pg 32), AAI has since received a $17.9 million order for another eight sets' although these involve the latest RQ-7B version--the leading characteristics of which are:

Length                                               3.40 metres
Wingspan                                             4.27 metres
Fuselage diameter                                          34 mm
Endurance                                           seven+ hours
Datalink range                                            125 km
Maximum take-off weight                                 170.5 kg
Maximum altitude                                   15,000 ft MSL
Engine type and power                   1 x UEL AR74-1100; 38 hp
Take-off methods                           rail launcher, runway
Landing method                        arrested runway, parachute
Payload type(s) and manufacturer(s)               EO/IR, Tamam--
                                                others available
Maximum payload weight                                   27.3 kg
Autopilot type and manufacturer                   Athena GS311e.