CHRISTINA MACKENZIE / ISTRES
France's second-generation tactical unmanned air vehicle is ready for delivery to the French army after successfully passing a series of airborne tests at Istres in the south of France.
The €1.5 million ($1.8 million) SDTI system is an interim stage on the way to development of the €450 million Multi-Captor Multi-Mission (MCMM) UAV programme, which will replace both the SDTI and the EADS CL-289 from 2008. The SDTI, built by Sagem, will replace the Crécerelle, which will be withdrawn from service next year, when the army takes delivery of four SDTI ground stations, 18 air vehicles and two pneumatic catapults.
The air vehicle is equipped with visible-spectrum and infrared cameras to send real-time images to the ground station, for battlefield surveillance and target designation. The aircraft is powered by a 65hp (50kW) Rotax engine and can carry a payload of 40kg (88lb). Endurance is around 5h at a cruising speed of 80kt (150km/h) and a maximum altitude of 11,500ft (3,500m). It can be operated up to 75km from the ground station.
During the trials, the SDTI became the first UAV in Europe to share airspace with manned aircraft. Régis Brigaud, director of the flight-test programme at Istres, says military air traffic controllers "were given specific flight-test training and a seminar on how a UAV flies, after which they agreed to handle the SDTI at the same time as the military aircraft that use this airbase".
He adds that the SDTI flew in the same airspace as an Airbus airliner "which was being flight tested here by coincidence at the same time as we were testing the SDTI". Brigaud says it will probably be "a decade" before UAVs are allowed to share civilian airspace, however.
Source: Flight International
