AAI Corporation plans to develop a more robust version of its recently acquired Aerosonde series of low-altitude, long-endurance UAVs, aiming to optimise the aircraft for use in military environments.
Key modifications will focus on the aircraft avionics, payloads, datalinks and landing system.
AAI says that the overarching objective of the upgrade will be to make the UAV “soldier-proof” to enable it to be deployed operationally. AAI took over the Australian-based Aerosonde company midway through this year.
While the Aerosonde series has a history of austere operations in remote and often extreme environments such as the Arctic, potential military users of the UAV are likely to place new pressures on the existing system says AAI. The proposed changes to the standard Aerosonde system will include packaging and handling systems for battlefield conditions.
AAI says that the bulk of planned changes are being driven by lessons learned by the company from US military operations of the AAI Shadow in Iraq over the past two years.
The existing Aerosonde airframe is unlikely to undergo any significant change, but will be re-examined as part of the ‘ruggedisation’ process: “We want to introduce engineering discipline” into the structure AAI says.
Prior to the AAI takeover, Aerosonde had been working with Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control on a redesign of the UAV fuselage to provide improved strength as well as weight savings and improved manufacture options. That work also saw the Aerosonde wing modified to incorporate winglets to provide improved aerodynamic efficiency. The new engineering studies will be distinctly separate from the Lockheed work says AAI.
The proposed avionics upgrade will focus on the autopilot software, aiming to introduce greater efficiencies into the existing code structure, which has largely followed an evolutionary development process over its decade long history.
The existing datalink is to be replaced by a secure system while the current range of payload options is to be re-assessed. AAI says it wants to be able to offer more flexible and more capable imaging sensor as part of the overall Aerosonde system.
The Aerosonde UAV has already been fully integrated into AAI’s One System ground control architecture, with this seen as opening up combined operations scenarios alongside Shadow. That could include using Aerosonde as a low-cost training asset for Shadow system buyers, or the use of the LALE aircraft in a loiter profile to provide persistent surveillance of targets of interest identified earlier by Shadow.
Work has also resumed at Aerosonde’s Australian operations centre, located in Melbourne, on a larger and more advanced version of the LALE UAV. The project, designated Aerosonde 50, was originally launched in the 2003-2004 timeframe for a larger UAV optimised for military applications but was effectively suspended after the launch of the Lockheed Martin-Aerosonde relationship in mid 2005.
The original Aerosonde 50 concept was based on a UAV capable of carrying a payload of up to 50kg, a ten fold increase on the current air vehicle’s 5kg payload capacity, with a 50 hour endurance target.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
