Observation is one of the many missions the military has employed
with various Unmanned Aerospace Vehicles (UAV). One of these is the Lockheed
Martin Desert Hawk III. This UAV gives operators such as the British Army (Ripley,
2016) a backpack portable UAV with up to two hours observation capability with
a two pound payload capacity (Lockheed Martin Corporation, 2015).
The Desert Hawk
III is a fixed wing, waterproof, propeller driven UAV that weighs approximately
8 pounds (Lockheed Martin Corporation, 2015). It is very robust, quick to deploy
and has been in military use, including combat operations, since 2005 (Lockheed
Martin Corporation, 2015). It has a very quiet acoustic signature and can
provide warfighters a day/night observation platform that can be assembled and
launched within 10 minutes (Barrie, 2015). Emitting low noise is a clear
military advantage when you do not want the target of observation to be aware
of the monitoring. Since this UAV is a fixed wing platform, hovering is not an
option, even though it can fly as slowly as 25 kts (Lockheed Martin
Corporation, 2015). If the operator wishes to observe over a fixed point, they
can circle the target. Its navigation function is also programmable and can be loaded
with a pre-planned Global Positioning System (GPS) route of flight.
Civilian use of
the Desert Hawk III could provide search and rescue or law enforcement, the
same observation capabilities the British Military employs. It has a “360-degree
color electro-optic and infrared Full Motion Video (FMV) integrated camera
systems” (Lockheed Martin Corporation, 2015), and is hand launched. The
manufacturer has also developed a “plug and play” capability to quickly change
out the sensor payload for this UAV (Lockheed Martin Corporation, 2015). The
infrared sensor would aid civilian operators detect and monitor individuals in
low light environments, just as it would for the military. The low acoustic
signature could be used by civilian operators anytime they would like the UAV
to remain undetected, such as observation of noise sensitive wildlife.
A competing
platform to the Desert Hawk III might be one of the many multi-rotor UAVs in
the marketplace, such as DJI Phantom 4 configured with an Exo1 skeleton (Burns,
2016). This is a standard DJI Phantom 4, but with an added undercarriage that
can be configurable to carry a payload that is retrievable from the UAV. It’s
easy to envision the Phantom carrying a small lifesaving payload to a stranded
or trapped survivor. The Desert Hawk III is hand launched and has much more
loiter capability than the Phantom, up to two hours versus 28 minutes for the
Phantom 4 (DJI, 2016). This extra observation time is beneficial for detection
and monitoring, but a fixed wing UAV would most likely not be able to deliver a
small package precisely to a stranded person, a clear advantage for a UAV that
can hover.
If I looked
ahead and tried to see the development path small observation platforms will
take, I would expect range, loiter time and payload improvements to continue.
Military applications will probably drive these improvements because of the
greater resources nation states can bring to the equation. The civilian operators
will surely find uses for the improved UAVs.
Barrie, A. (2015, September 21). DSEI:
Desert Hawk drone soars in London | Fox News. Retrieved from
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/09/21/dsei-desert-hawk-drone-soars-in-london.html
Burns, M. (2016, October 12). Turn a DJI
Phantom 4 into a search & rescue drone with the EXO 1 exoskeleton |
TechCrunch. Retrieved from
https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/12/turn-a-dji-phantom-4-into-a-search-rescue-drone-with-the-exo-1-exoskeleton/
DJI. (2016). Phantom 4 - DJI’s smartest
flying camera ever. Retrieved from http://www.dji.com/phantom-4
Lockheed Martin Corporation. (2015). Desert Hawk enhancing warfighter
capabilities. Retrieved from
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/content/dam/lockheed/data/ms2/documents/Desert_Hawk_Brochure.pdf
Ripley, T. (2016, June 20). UK transfers
Watchkeeper UAVs to helicopter command | IHS Jane's 360. Retrieved from
http://www.janes.com/article/61615/uk-transfers-watchkeeper-uavs-to-helicopter-command
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