Australia busca nuevo Micro UAV

Australia Begins its Tender Process to Find a New Man-Portable UAV

Project Land 129 Phase 4B will find a replacement for the Wasp AE SUAS serving with the Australian Army (photo : ADF)

As predicted last month by the Capability Acquisition & Sustainment Group (CASG), Australia issued an RfI on 25 August concerning a new small unmanned aerial system (SUAS) for the Australian Army.

The system’s primary purpose is to provide ISR support via near real-time video and still images, for the combat team commander by day or night, the RfI explained. In effect, the SUAS will ‘provide an over the hill, down the road and around the corner reconnaissance capability’.

Labelled Project Land 129 Phase 4B, this programme will replace 65 in-service AeroVironment Wasp AEs procured from 2017-21 and which will be retired in 2024. That contract had followed the acquisition of 14 Wasp AE UAVs in 2015 as part of Army Minor Project 024.32 to help develop doctrine, tactics and procedures.

One notable difference to the advance notice issued in July was that the acquisition period had been pushed back a year to FY2024-26.

These SUAS will be disbursed to army manoeuvre brigades, the Special Operations Command and the Army Reserve. It should be man-portable by two soldiers and operable by a single person.
The SUAS should operate in littoral regions, which may include urbanised and densely vegetated areas or even from a small boat. They should assist a combat team in making a quick attack, or perhaps to aid counter-fire, adjust fire against an enemy or perform battle damage assessment.

Each SUAS will comprise an aerial vehicle, payload, ground control station, remote viewing terminal (outside the scope of this programme), operational support equipment and training support equipment.

The military considers a 7km range as ‘very important’ and 10km as ‘important’. By the same token, an endurance of 45 minutes and 60 minutes are considered ‘very important’ and ‘important’, respectively. Its endurance speed should be at least 25kt, though 50kt is deemed ‘important’.

Shephard

Nuevos Micro-UAVs del US Army tienen el tamaño de una paloma

New drones are the size of a bird, will help soldiers in urban combat situations

War is Boring |||  Andy Wolf 

The aerial reconnaissance tool of tomorrow is over half a foot long and weighs less than a pound- and it’s coming to the backpack of a soldier near you.

The FLIR Systems Black Hornet, an extremely quiet scout drone, is capable of speeds of 13 MPH and has a range of 1.25 miles.

While this doesn’t sound like much, the tight quarters of urban combat (which many believe will be the primary battlegrounds of the future) make such a device a godsend.

The Black Hornet sends real-time HD footage back to the operator, which allows troops to see where they are going before actually setting out on what might turn into an ambush.

FLIR Systems claims that the Black Hornet provides “modern warfighters with an easy to carry, truly pocket-sized solution they can deploy anywhere day or night for immediate covert situational awareness”.

Resembling a tiny helicopter, the Black Hornet is currently being tested by the U.S. and several allied partners, including the UK and Australia. According to News.com.au, France, Germany, India, Norway, and the Netherlands are also using the Black Hornet in their military forces.

The U.S. Army claims that each Black Hornet kit includes “the ground control system, which is composed of a base station with hand controller and display unit, and two air Vehicles (one day and one night). The display acts as the main hub for soldiers to interact with the system, while the air vehicles are small, highly maneuverable airborne sensors with low visual and audio signatures that support pre-planned and on-the-fly reconnaissance missions.”

Nuevo TUAV para Malasia

MAF Looking For New TUAV

Nyamok 2.0 UAV (photo : MMP)

For nearly a decade, the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) has successfully operated a mix of locally developed CTRM/UST Aludra Mk I/II and Boeing/I situ ScanEagle Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV) out of unspecified location in Kudat, Sabah.

Both UAVs were launched, retrieved and maintained by CTRM under Contractor Owned, Government Operate arrangement but was flown on station by UAV operators from UAV Troop under the triservice Joint Task Force 2 Command (Markas Angkatan Tugas Bersama 2 – Mk ATB 2) operating at Kukusan Camp.

Recently, the two contracts now under the charged of DEFTECH, which acquires both CTRM and UST have lapsed resulting a new search for TUAV. (here)

As interim measure, two Schiebel S-100 Camcopter Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) UAV formerly operated by Petronas but now under the control of Defence Intelligence Staff Division (Bahagian Staf Perisikan Pertahanan – BSPP) were deployed to Kukusan Camp.

Unlike the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Medium Altitude, Long Endurance (MALE) UAV which gained much attention ever since such plan was first mooted by the Air Force following 2017’s edition of the Langkawi International Maritime & Aerospace (LIMA) show, the TUAV program seems to be out of the limelight.

Having said that unbeknownst to many, there are currently two types of locally developed TUAV which could vie for the contract.

DEFTECH has recently unveils its collaborative effort with Malaysia Technology Universiti (UTM) to further improved the performance of blended wing body, UST/UTM Camar TUAV during Defence Services Asia (DSA) 2018 exhibition in Kuala Lumpur.

Despite its sophisticated design, there is still a lot of developmental works that need to be done before it could be fully ready for offering to the MAF for the latter’s TUAV program.

While LIMA 2019 was dominated by MALE UAV from Turkey, China and the United States, system Consultancy Services, dubbed as the true pioneer of TUAV in this country has unveiled the second generation of Nyamok TUAV.

Nyamok TUAV has a long history that dates back from Malaysia Science University (USM) Taming Sari research program that led to USM/UTM/SCS Blackbird program in 2006. The first generation of Nyamok TUAV was unveiled during LIMA 2007.

It was then decided that three companies SCS, Ikramatic and CTRM would cooperate together under the Unmanned System Technologies (UST) to come up with the Aludra TUAV.

When DEFTECH acquired full control of UST and incorporated it into DEFTECH Aviation, SCS decided to focus on fully developing the Nyamok 2.0 TUAV.

What is interesting about the Nyamok 2.0 that the UAV was actually involved in providing vital aerial overwatch for the Malaysian Army and Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) which were rushed to rescue trapped policemen in a deadly ambushed by Sulu terrorists at Simunul water village in Lahad Datu, Sabah.

Nyamok 2.0 conducted demonstration flight at LIMA 2019 to highlight its flight characteristics as well as its superior Electro Optic (EO) camera.

With DEFTECH now embroiled in corruption scandal involving the spare part supply of FNSS/DEFTECH ACV-300 Adnan and FNSS/DEFTECH AV-8 Gempita armoured vehicles as well as the supply of Chaiseri/DEFTECH AV-4 Lipanbara mine resistance armoured protection (MRAP) vehicle, it is unlikely that the company will be in the competition for the TUAV program.

Having said that, established defence journalist, Marhalim Abbas suggested that a system of ScanEagle 2 TUAV slated for the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) under US sponsored Maritime Security Initiative (MSI) might be handed to Mk ATB 2 possibly under direct control of the Navy instead of the UAV Troop.

Since Mk ATB 2 has operated THE UST contracted ScanEagle 1 for more than 5 years, it has no problem to seamlessly integrate the new ScanEagle 2 with its Joint Regional Control Centre (JRCC), which interestingly enough was developed by SCS.

Perhaps, if such arrangement did materialise as Encik Marhalim suggested, perhaps the MAF would again adopted local-export combination of TUAV for Mk ATB2 by considering the Nyamok 2.0.

Previously, this blog has suggested that all 12 ScanEagle 2 TUAV are to be operated from the flight decks of Kedah class New Generation Patrol Vessel (NGPV).

MFH

Australia tiene el UAV abeja

Australian Army to Roll Out Black Hornet Micro UAVs

Australian Army soldiers with a PD-100 Black Hornet UAV during an exercise at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland on 4 May 2018. 

The Australian Army (AA) will soon roll out the PD-100 Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance System (PRS) across one of its brigades in Brisbane, the Department of Defence (DoD) in Canberra announced in a 24 May statement.

The rollout and sustainment of the micro unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) is an AUD18 million (USD13.6 million) project and a “key capability milestone for the army as it continues to be a technologically advanced force”, said the DoD.

Brigadier Susan Coyle, commander of the AA’s 6th Combat Support Brigade and of the service’s only UAS unit – the 20th Surveillance Target Acquisition Regiment – was quoted in the statement as saying that the rollout is a “significant achievement for the army”.

Jane's