Tag Archives: AeroVironment

Navy

Puma Aboard Destroyer

AeroVironment, Inc. on August 11 announced the United States Navy has tested and deployed the RQ-20B Puma small Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) aboard a Flight I Guided Missile Destroyer (DDG Class). Some of these exercises included the use of AeroVironment’s fully autonomous system to recover the aircraft aboard a ship. The U.S. Navy issued a report on August 3 from the Arabian Gulf describing how Puma AE is also being utilized on Navy Patrol Craft.

Puma AE (All Environment) is a fully waterproof, small, unmanned aircraft system designed for land and maritime operations
Puma AE (All Environment) is a fully waterproof, small, unmanned aircraft system designed for land and maritime operations

Following completion of a Puma AE intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission, the AeroVironment Precision Recovery System provides for the autonomous on-board recovery of the aircraft, without interrupting the ship’s operations. Because the RQ-20B Puma AE is also designed to land and float in water, operators can choose to recover it from the ocean, should mission requirements dictate.

The AeroVironment Precision Recovery System occupies a small footprint and can be managed and operated by members of a ship’s crew, as opposed to requiring external contractors. It is transported in tactical packaging that can be hand-carried aboard and readily transferred from one ship to another.

«Our Precision Recovery System expands the capability of Puma AE to support maritime operations. This solution also builds on AeroVironment’s extensive operational experience with small UAS to provide the U.S. Navy with a low-cost, hand-launched capability optimized for contested environments», said Kirk Flittie, vice president and general manager of AeroVironment’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems business segment. «Puma AE’s ability to operate from a wide variety of surface vessels ensures rapid response reconnaissance capabilities that help our customers operate more safely and effectively and proceed with certainty».

Puma AE can be launched and recovered very quickly. The UAS features a gimbaled payload that delivers high quality Electro-Optical (EO) and Infrared (IR) imagery and AeroVironment’s secure Digital Data Link (DDL). These features improve situational awareness for the ship and also for boat crews who carry their own remote video terminal («Pocket DDL») during approach and assist or other missions.

AeroVironment developed the Puma AE system to compete for, and win, a 2008 United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) competitive program of record and subsequently supplied the system to the U.S. Navy Expeditionary Combat Command Coastal Riverine Forces, the US Army for convoy and ground troop support and the US Marine Corps. Most recently, the Navy procured Puma AE systems for use aboard Patrol Craft and also deployed them aboard a US Navy Expeditionary Fast Transport (T-EPF) ship in support of counter illicit trafficking operations in the Caribbean. The Puma AE is also employed by several international partners.

The United States Department of Defense recently established the designation RQ-20B for the block 2 Puma AE small UAS. The block 2 Puma AE system includes a more powerful and lighter propulsion system, lighter and stronger airframe, long endurance battery, precision inertial navigation system and an improved user interface. The new, all environment Mantis i45 gimbal sensor suite for Puma AE delivers a dramatic leap in small UAS image resolution and ISR capability and will be available for ordering in September.

Capable of landing in water or on land, the Puma AE empowers the operator with an operational flexibility never before available in the small UAS class
Capable of landing in water or on land, the Puma AE empowers the operator with an operational flexibility never before available in the small UAS class

 

KEY FEATURES

  • 3+ Hour Flight Endurance
  • Smart Battery options to support diverse missions
  • Gimbaled EO & IR Payload
  • Increased Payload Capacity with optional under wing Transit Bay
  • Powerful and Efficient Propulsion System
  • Precision Navigation System with
  • Secondary GPS
  • Plug and Play Secondary Power Adapter
  • Reinforced Fuselage for Improved Durability
The enhanced precision navigation system with secondary GPS provides greater positional accuracy and reliability of the Puma AE
The enhanced precision navigation system with secondary GPS provides greater positional accuracy and reliability of the Puma AE

 

SPECIFICATIONS

Payloads Gimbaled payload, 360-degree continuous pan, +10 to -90 degrees tilt, stabilized EO, IR camera, and IR Illuminator all in one modular payload
Range 8 NM/9.3 miles/15 km
Endurance 3+ hours
Operating Altitude (Typ.) 500 feet/152 m Above Ground Level (AGL)
Wing Span 9.2 feet/2.8 m
Length 4.6 feet/1.4 m
Weight 14 lbs/6.3 kg
Ground Control System (GCS) Common GCS with Raven, Wasp and Shrike
Launch Method Hand-launched, rail launch (optional)
Recovery Method Autonomous or manual deep-stall landing
AV’s common ground control system allows the operator to control the aircraft manually or program it for GPS-based autonomous navigation
AV’s common ground control system allows the operator to control the aircraft manually or program it for GPS-based autonomous navigation
Navy

TERN – Phase 2

DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has awarded prime contracts for Phase 2 of TERN (Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node), a joint program between DARPA and the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR). The goal of TERN is to give forward-deployed small ships the ability to serve as mobile launch and recovery sites for medium-altitude, long-endurance Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs).

Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node: Artist's Concept
Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node: Artist’s Concept

These systems could provide long-range Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) and other capabilities over greater distances and time periods than is possible with current assets, including manned and unmanned helicopters. Further, a capacity to launch and retrieve aircraft on small ships would reduce the need for ground-based airstrips, which require significant dedicated infrastructure and resources. The two prime contractors selected by DARPA to work on new systems are AeroVironment, Inc., and Northrop Grumman Corp.

«To offer the equivalent of land-based UAS capabilities from small-deck ships, our Phase 2 performers are each designing a new Unmanned Air System intended to enable two previously unavailable capabilities:

  • the ability for a UAS to take off and land from very confined spaces in elevated sea states;
  • the ability for such a UAS to transition to efficient long-duration cruise missions», said Dan Patt, DARPA program manager.

«Tern’s goal is to develop breakthrough technologies that the U.S. Navy could realistically integrate into the future fleet and make it much easier, quicker and less expensive for the Defense Department to deploy persistent ISR and strike capabilities almost anywhere in the world», added Dan Patt.

The first two phases of the TERN program focus on preliminary design and risk reduction. In Phase 3, one performer will be selected to build a full-scale demonstrator TERN system for initial ground-based testing. That testing would lead to a full-scale, at-sea demonstration of a prototype UAS on an at-sea platform with deck size similar to that of a destroyer or other surface combat vessel.

Unfortunately, DARPA has restricted the bidding teams from revealing most details about their aircraft proposals, said Stephen Trimble, Flightglobal.com reporter.

The agency has released an image of an artist’s concept for a notional TERN vehicle. It reveals a tail-sitter, twin-engined design resembling the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) built by General Atomics and used primarily by the United States Air Force (USAF) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The artist’s concept demonstrates a sharply dihedral mid-wing and the Predator’s familiar anhedral stabilisers. The new vehicle is shown equipped with a visual sensor.

A dedicated launch and recovery system for the TERN UAS is not visible on either vessel shown in the image. A tail-sitter TERN is shown perched however on the aft helicopter deck of the destroyer, suggesting no catapults or nets are required to launch and retrieve the aircraft.