UK-based Cyberflight has unveiled a small tactical class unmanned air vehicle and a revised configuration of its existing SOD IV mini system.
The new CyberEye small tactical UAV is due to make its debut flight in September in a remotely operated configuration. A blended wing body design, it has a 2m (6.5ft) span and can simultaneously carry three gimballed sensors in separate mountings. Propulsion is via twin electric pusher propellers.
The revised SOD IV configuration, designated E-Swift Eye, also uses a blended wing body, but removes the twin tail booms fitted to its precursor.
The change reflects requests from potential users for the design of the ultra-lightweight, back-packable SOD IV to be kept as simple as possible says Cyberflight. The first E-Swift Eye prototype made its debut flight last month.
The company is to put E-Swift Eye into series manufacture over the next three months in a company-funded initiative aimed at kick-starting orders by allowing for immediate deliveries in the UK and international marketplaces. It says it has placed orders with suppliers for 3,000 expanded polypropylene particle (EPP) foam airframes to support the production plan.
All three designs use Kestrel series autopilots from US-based Procerus Technologies. The two companies have been working closely together since August 2006 to develop swarm capabilities for all three types.
Cyberflight says that in operational scenarios, the swarming capability would allow for either E-Swift Eye or SOD IV UAVs to perform tactical reconnaissance operations with CyberEye being cued by them to conduct detailed surveillance.
CyberEye could also be used as the outer node in a layered architecture, with the air vehicle having an endurance of 3h and an operational radius of 40km (22nm). E Swift-Eye has an endurance of 1h and an operational radius of 9km.
The swarming operations capability could be extended to form the basis of a close-range hunter-killer architecture, says the company, by adapting an additional airframe to act as a loitering munition. Preliminary studies have been based on fitting a SOD IV with 0.5kg (1lb) of high explosive with an electronic fuse. The loitering version would be launched in response to target detections by other aircraft in the swarm.
SOD IV demonstrated swarming operations involving four air vehicles at the annual Parc Aberporth UAV flying day at West Wales airport in July. That type has flown in excess of 100h during development phases.
A standard E-Swift Eye or SOD IV system would comprise three air vehicles and a shared ground control station.
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Source: Flight International
