Small UAVs Set For Big Impact

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They may be small, but mini-, micro- and nano-UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) are about to have a big impact. Seen as mere science projects not too long ago, annual procurements are already in the hundreds and the market for them will grow substantially, says aerospace/defense market analysis firm Teal Group. An abundance of new products and development projects lends credence to that forecast.

One example is a new personal mini-UAV from Israeli company UVision Global Aero Systems, which made its first appearance at the Paris Air Show this year. The back-packable, canister-launched reconnaissance mini-UAV is intended for small, front-line operating units. Fuselage diameter is 80 mm; payload capacity is 1 kilogram (kg); and the UAV, payload and launch tube together weigh only about 3 kg. UVision says the highly automated unit is “reusable yet priced to be expendable.”

Meanwhile, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), along with the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Atlantic, has announced a $100,000 design competition called the UAVForge Challenge. The goal isto tap the wisdom of the crowd to develop a user-intuitive, backpack-portable unmanned UAV system that can quietly fly in and out of critical environments and conduct surveillance for up to three hours.

DARPA’s Jim McCormick said, “The UAVForge crowd-sourced approach seeks to capture and mature novel ideas and systems integration methods from communities outside the traditional DoD acquisition process.”

The winning team will get to showcase its design in an overseas military exercise, and to work with a government-selected manufacturer to produce a limited quantity of experimental systems.

On the nano front, AeroVironment, Inc. is developing a life-size robotic hummingbird, under a DARPA-sponsored contract for a new class of air vehicle systems capable of indoor and outdoor operation.

Employing biological mimicry at an extremely small scale, the Nano Hummingbird has met or exceeded all of DARPA’s Phase II technical milestones, including precision hover flight and endurance; stability in 5-mph wind gusts; controlled transitions from hover to forward flight; and various flight maneuvers. The bird-shaped aircraft one day may provide new reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities in urban environments.

These and other developments in the area of small UAVs seem to bear out the prediction of a senior British Army officer in Afghanistan last year, who was reported to have declared there would be an “epic appetite” for micro UAVs because enemy combatants have learned ways to hide from large, high-altitude units.

Contributor:   IDGA Editorial Staff

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