Yesterday saw the biggest turnout so far, with a sprinkling of uniforms adding colour and authenticity to the proceedings. The parallel sessions ad richness & variety but mean that inevitably a choice has to be made, which in my case meant focussing on Operational Experience (Military & Non-Military) and UAS Updates.
The Federal Police of Brazil has been deploying IAI Herons since 2010 in the south of the country near to the Iguaçu Falls and the borders with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Consequently, they are accumulating experience with flight rules in the Brazilian National Airspace, as well as the practical issues of integrating UAS activities into regular police and border control work. The government has recently made a massive $11 Billion commitment seeing UAS as the only way to properly control the country’s extensive borders.
The Netherlands Police Agency has been experimenting with small UAS since 2007 and so has some considerable experience in operations. The agency has been particularly concerned with safety & training and improving reliability & robustness in order to gain the necessary airworthiness certificates to be able to fly over more densely populated areas.
The French Army has been operating its SDTI Sperwer Tactical UAS in Afghanistan since November 9, 2008 and has now accumulated 1450 flying hours in 545 missions. It has become accepted as an essential resource, helping commanders get a better understanding of the situation, protecting soldier’s lives, and with its reliability, has become financially & technically affordable for tactical levels (especially when compared to missile costs).
The smaller DRAC, a mini UAS initially deployed in Kosovo, has flown 600 missions in over 450 flight hours since its initial deployment in Afghanistan, October 2010. It operates in support of Front Line Army Units with a three-man team: a pilot, a payload operator and team leader to coordinate with the troops. It can be deployed within 15 minutes and has a range of 10 kilometers. It too has become welcomed by ground forces, who appreciate its flexibility and who feel reassured by its presence.
Cassidian’s MALE Harfang, however, is operated by the French Air Force. It has carried out 400 missions and logged 4,000 flight hours, flying day and night in all weather conditions (it has a built-in anti-icing system). It is robust and proven to be reliable with a 95% mission reliability rate. It has been certified to fly in Europe and so was used in security operations around the recent G8 summit at Deauville. The Air Force has two systems (2 aircraft + 1 ground control station) – one stationed in Bagram – the other in Cognac is used for training.
The Elbit Systems full range of UAS from the mini Skylark I-LE up to the MALE Hermes 900 is well known, but a lesser known fact is that the company supplies 100% of all small UAS and 85% of all UAS to the Israeli armed forces.
The AAI Shadow, which evolved form an original 1980’s requirement, is also well documented as the US Army’s workhorse, having accumulated over 650,000 flight hours (92% in combat situations) it currently averages 10,000 flight hours per month. Some 117 systems have been delivered since 2001, and the company expects this total to rise to 200 and for these systems to still be in use through 2020/2025.