Miniature UAV
A miniature UAV, small UAV, or drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle small enough to be man-portable. The smallest UAVs are called micro air vehicle.
Miniature UAVs range from micro air vehicles that can be carried by an infantryman, to man-portable UAVs that can be carried and launched like an infantry man-portable air-defense system. The term is usually applied to those used for military purposes. Military miniature UAVs are generally used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance at short range compared to the larger unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance aerial vehicle used for medium to long range missions.
SUAVs have been given various definitions among national regulation authorities, often without including size precisions and differing about weight measurement specifications. Those definitions range from less than 2 kg for Canada to less than 25 kg for the United States. EU's SESAR prospective for the 2020 Air Traffic Management rules also proposed less than 25 kg, while UK's CAA stated less than 20 kg.
Man-portable UAVs
There is a great deal of activity in the small UAV field, with a number of systems acquired and used in combat.AeroVironment "Pointer" and "Raven"
In 1999, the US Army bought four AeroVironment Pointer small UAVs for testing in the service's "Military Operations In Urban Terrain" and was enthusiastic about the usefulness of the Pointer. It is too large to be conveniently carried by soldiers and is normally hauled around in a HMMWV vehicle or the like, and so the Army asked AeroVironment to develop a smaller version. AeroVironment developed a half-sized control system and a cut-down version of the Pointer called the RQ-11 Raven.The Raven has an endurance of 90 minutes on rechargeable batteries. It can be carried by a single soldier along with other standard battle gear. Following the Afghanistan campaign in 2001–2002, the US SOCOM ordered 80 Ravens, which was more than the total number of Pointers that had been sold to that time. The US Army also placed orders for up to 105 Ravens in the late summer of 2003 after the US occupation of Iraq led to persistent insurgent attacks on US forces. Since then, the RQ-11B Raven B has become the official standard SUAS for USSOCOM, US Army, US Marines, and several countries. As of early 2008, over 8000 Raven airframes have been shipped to customers worldwide. Ravens have been operational in combat in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other undisclosed locations.
Encouraged by such successes, AeroVironment is also working on a newer version of the Pointer, named the "Puma", with greater endurance and payload. In addition, they have disclosed that they are in late development of a small lethal UAV.
Baykar Bayraktar Mini UAV
Bayraktar Bayraktar Mini UAV is a hand-launched, portable UAV system, designed to operate under harsh geographic and meteorological conditions.Interspect UAS B 3.1 "Flying Lab"
The Interspect UAS B 3.1 is a remote sensing platform for 3D photogrammetric purposes.The Interspect UAS B 1.1 octocopter first flew on 10 April 2011. The prototype had one DSLR camera and limited capability. The third variant able to fly 12 min with 3 kg loading. Interspect UAS B 3.1 have a removable 3D photogrammetry camera with humidity meter and other instruments. The octocopter's diameter is 1165 mm.
Aeryon Labs "Scout"
The Aeryon Scout is a man-packable quadcopter UAV designed for aerial reconnaissance by users with minimal training. Weighing just 1.3 kg, it features onboard intelligence, all-digital communications and a map-based touch-screen control which enables new users to operate the vehicles with only minutes of training. This map-based control allows the system to be easily controlled beyond line-of-sight and at night, a unique feature of this system. Its unique modular design allows for quick-connect payloads of different types and its arms and legs are changeable in the field, with no tools. This allows the user to repair damages easily and return to operation quickly. The Scout is approximately 0.8 m from propeller tip to tip and operates using four brushless DC motors, making it very quiet. It has an endurance of approximately 20 minutes. It is capable of flying in winds up to 50 km/h and designed for all-weather operation, with an industrial temperature range. It has a payload capability of approximately 250 grams. It has been designed for both military and civilian use, with specific focus to remain dual-use compliant.Aeryon Labs "SkyRanger"
The Aeryon SkyRanger builds on the capabilities of the Aeryon Scout and is a man-packable quadcopter UAV designed for aerial reconnaissance by users with minimal training. About 1 kg heavier than the Aeryon Scout at 2.5 kg, the Aeryon SkyRanger shares the map-based control interface. The SkyRanger is capable of longer duration flight, and can fly up to 50 minutes with a dual EO/IR payload. The SkyRanger has a higher bitrate, IP-based network and is capable of streaming HD video from over 5 km, with multicasting capabilities. The vehicle is all-weather capable, with an industrial temperature range and has a top speed of 65 km/h. It is able to withstand windgusts up to 90 km/h. The Aeryon SkyRanger has a folding design that makes it quickly deployable.Applied Aeronautics "Albatross UAV"
The Albatross looks a bit like the military RQ-7 Shadow drone but can be purchased for less than US$2,000. Several options are available. In 2018, the Albatross UAV was shown at the signing of a partnership between Boeing's Insitu and the Queensland Government. It has since been used extensively in Australia.Aurora Flight Sciences Skate SUAS
The Skate SUAS is a man portable unmanned system designed for the tactical user but also useful for other applications where portability and operation from constrained environments are critical. It is a airframe coupled with a custom portable GCS. It has user swappable payloads and can be equipped with a variety of EO, IR and/or thermal imagers. Flight endurance is around 1hr.The Skate SUAS was put into service with Army and Air Force units in Afghanistan in March 2013.
China "CATIC"
CATIC of China has developed their own hand-launched man-portable UAV, the "ASN-15", with an endurance of an hour and a payload of. It has a maximum speed of 80~90km/h and can fly at altitudes ranging from 50-500M. The UAV is fitted with a CCD camera and transmits the image data to the ground station via datalink in a real-time manner. The ASN-15 drone has been deployed by the PLA ground forces for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance roles.EADS "Tracker"
European EADS organization is developing a small UAV named the Tracker, which features a wide-span wing, twin booms for payload and so on, and a central pod with tractor and puller propellers. It has a weight of, a span of, and an endurance of an hour.Elbit "Skylark I" and "Seagull"
In the spring of 2003 Elbit of Israel introduced two electrically powered man-portable UAVs, the Skylark and the Seagull. Both of these UAVs have a launch weight of about, a speed of from 35 to 70 km/h, and can carry either a color daylight imager or an infrared imager. The Skylark I is of conventional configuration, resembling nothing so much as a large kid's rubber-band airplane with a pod under the fuselage. It has an endurance of 1.5 hours.The Seagull is much less conventional, in the form of a boomerang-shaped flying wing with wingtip fins and a pusher propeller. Size, performance, and payload details of the Seagull are similar to those of the Skylark, but the endurance is stretched to six hours.
EMT "Aladin"
German manufacturer EMT has produced the Aladin Mini-UAV for German forces. It has a range of more than 15 km and an endurance of 30–60 minutes.IAI Malat "BirdEye"s and "Mosquito"
Malat has also introduced their own small UAV line, designated BirdEye, which includes the BirdEye 500 and the BirdEye 100. Sources also mention a Malat micro-UAV, the Mosquito, though this may be the same as the BirdEye 100. Malat has been promoting the BirdEye 500 for both military and civilian uses, with civilian uses including urban security, crime-fighting, and traffic observation.Lockheed Martin "Desert Hawk"
US forces are also using another mini-UAV in Iraq, the Lockheed Martin Desert Hawk. It weighs, has a wingspan of and a length of. It is made mostly of plastic foam, suggesting something like a Nerf toy, and uses an electric motor driving a pusher propeller as a powerplant, making it very quiet. It is launched with a bungee cord, carries three small CCD cameras, has an endurance of about an hour. It flies mostly under autonomous control, with the "pilot" keeping track of what's going on with a laptop computer.The Desert Hawk was designed by Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works for the Air Force FPASS Program on a quick-reaction contract issued late in the winter of 2002, with the first system delivered in the early summer. It was designed quickly because it leveraged heavily off of technology and design studies developed for the MicroStar MAVs.
However, in 2007, the US Air Force FPASS office switched all of their UAV systems over to the RQ-11 Raven B. Desert Hawk did make the short-list for the recent Netherlands Army Mini-UAV program, but ultimately lost to the RQ-11B Raven B. The only military forces still using Desert Hawk are the UK Army.