wonwinglo
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WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 Defense giant Lockheed Martin has signed a $2.6 million contract with the British military to upgrade its tiny Desert Hawk Unmanned Aerial System.
Lockheed Martin, headquartered in Bethesda, Md,designed the Desert Hawk to be a force protection airborne surveillance system for the U.S. Air Force, which owns 21 Desert Hawk Systems comprising 126 air vehicles. They are currently deployed in Iraq and have been used in Afghanistan as well, according to Pentagon news releases.
The United Kingdom contract will upgrade Britain's small fleet of Desert Hawks as well as cover the procurement of additional vehicles. An earlier British test of Desert Hawk in Iraq was unsuccessful because cell phone traffic interfered with its connection to the control station.
The Desert Hawk provides autonomous intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, including a terrain avoidance feature and dynamic flight plan re-tasking. Just two people can operate it, launching it with a bungee cord as a sling shot. Made of a Styrofoam-like material, it weighs just 7 pounds and has a 4-foot wingspan and can remain aloft for about an hour on its battery power. It can carry either color cameras or thermal imagers, giving it both day and night capabilities.
Desert Hawk can fly at altitudes lower than 330 meters and can see about 10 kilometers. It can fly as fast as 80 kilometers per hour. Each Desert Hawk system, which consists of six aircraft, a ground station, and spare parts,costs $300,000, according to the Web site defense-update.com.
Lockheed Martin, headquartered in Bethesda, Md,designed the Desert Hawk to be a force protection airborne surveillance system for the U.S. Air Force, which owns 21 Desert Hawk Systems comprising 126 air vehicles. They are currently deployed in Iraq and have been used in Afghanistan as well, according to Pentagon news releases.
The United Kingdom contract will upgrade Britain's small fleet of Desert Hawks as well as cover the procurement of additional vehicles. An earlier British test of Desert Hawk in Iraq was unsuccessful because cell phone traffic interfered with its connection to the control station.
The Desert Hawk provides autonomous intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, including a terrain avoidance feature and dynamic flight plan re-tasking. Just two people can operate it, launching it with a bungee cord as a sling shot. Made of a Styrofoam-like material, it weighs just 7 pounds and has a 4-foot wingspan and can remain aloft for about an hour on its battery power. It can carry either color cameras or thermal imagers, giving it both day and night capabilities.
Desert Hawk can fly at altitudes lower than 330 meters and can see about 10 kilometers. It can fly as fast as 80 kilometers per hour. Each Desert Hawk system, which consists of six aircraft, a ground station, and spare parts,costs $300,000, according to the Web site defense-update.com.