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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 21 May 2007 |
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 The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has developed a man-portable UAV of roughly the same size as the AeroVironment Raven, named the Dragon Eye (no relationship to the BAI Aerosystems Dragon). The Dragon Eye is a tailless design with a rectangular wing and twin props. It is designed to fit into a backpack, with a weight of 2.25 kilograms (5 pounds) and a span of 1.14 meters (3 feet 9 inches). It can be lanched by hand or bungee slingshot and has a GPS-INS-based waypoint navigation system.
One of the interesting features is that the operator monitors Dragon Eye operation through "video goggles" connected to a laptop computer. The control system weighs about 5.4 kilograms (12 pounds). The Dragon Eye's endurance is an hour. The production contract for Dragon Eye was awarded to AeroVironment in 2003, and over 1000 aircraft were built before the Marines switched over to the RQ-11B Raven B for the remainder of the Dragon Eye production contract.
The NRL has also built at least two other small UAVs. The Swallow is of more conventional configuration than the Dragon Eye, roughly comparable to the AeroVironment Pointer, with long sailplane wings and a tail-mounted propeller. Details are unclear, but it has been used in NRL experiments to develop anti-sniper sensors for base security applications. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 28 February 2008 )
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