RQ-11 Raven Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, United States of America | World Defense

RQ-11 Raven Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, United States of America

BLACKEAGLE

SENIOR MEMBER
Joined
Dec 5, 2014
Messages
3,623
Reactions
1,989 10 0
Country
Jordan
Location
Jordan
1-rq-11-raven.jpg

The RQ-11 Raven is a lightweight unmanned aircraft system (UAS) designed for rapid deployment and high mobility for military and commercial operations.

2-rq-11-raven.jpg

The Raven meets army requirements for low-altitude reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition.

3-rq-11-raven.jpg

The RQ-11A Raven UAV weighs about 1.9kg (4.2lb). It has a flight endurance of 80 minutes and an effective operational radius of about 10km (6.2 miles).

4-rq-11-raven.jpg

The Raven allows military units to conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) over danger zones without committing soldiers.

The RQ-11 Raven is a lightweight unmanned aircraft system (UAS). It is designed for rapid deployment and high-mobility for military and commercial operations. The Raven meets army requirements for low-altitude reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition. It can be operated manually or programmed for autonomous operation, utilising the system's advanced avionics and GPS navigation.

Each Raven costs around $35,000, but the total system costs approximately $250,000.

In October 2013, AeroVironment secured a $20m order from the US Army to provide Mantis i23 gimbaled sensor payloads for upgrading the RQ-11B Raven. An order for the Raven spare parts was placed by the US Army in September 2014.

Raven UAV development

"The Raven allows military units to conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) over danger zones."

The US Army required live-coverage capability, to enable the troops to get real-time, up-to-date and over-the-horizon views in trouble areas. The army bought four AeroVironment FQM-151 Pointer UAVs in 1999, for military operations in urban terrain (MOUT) and the ACTD (advanced concept technology demonstration) programme.

Later, AeroVironment developed a smaller air vehicle, called Raven. Being half the size of Pointer it was named the 'Flashlight' SUAV (small UAV). It flew for the first time in October 2001.

The Flashlight SUAV was developed into Raven in 2002. This was done as part of the army's Pathfinder ACTD programme. As it was handbuilt, mass production was not possible. Block I of Raven's modified version, delivered in May 2003, became the first LRIP (low-rate initial production) version.

Block I's shortcomings, such as difficult launch procedure and insufficient flight stability, were corrected in block II, which was first delivered to the army in September 2003. The batch II version was tested in Afghanistan. Later, US Special Operations Command ordered a batch of 179 Raven systems with three UAVs each. Batch II was officially designated as RQ-11A Raven air vehicle.

RQ-11A and RQ-11B Raven UAV variants

RQ-11 UAVs are manufactured in two variants - RQ-11A and RQ-11B - designed and manufactured by AeroVironment

More than 3,000 RQ-11As were produced before 2006. The RQ-11A Raven UAV weighs about 1.9kg (4.2lb). It has a flight endurance of 80 minutes and an effective operational radius of about 10km (6.2 miles). Raven has a flying speed of 32km/h to 81km/h at typical operating altitude between 30m and 152m.

RQ-11A Raven provides flexibility, with remote control or control through ground station. It allows completely autonomous missions using GPS waypoint navigation. CCD colour video and an infra-red camera constitute the standard mission payloads.

The Raven B system is an enhanced version of the battle-proven Raven A. It is a lightweight system designed for rapid deployment and high mobility for both military and commercial applications. The Raven B is the most advanced small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS) deployed with the US armed forces.

RQ-11B has a wingspan of 1.4m (4.5ft) and a weight of 4.2lb. Launched by hand, Raven provides aerial observation, day or night, at line-of-sight ranges of 10km or more.

It can deliver real-time colour or infra-red imagery to ground control unit (GCU) and remote viewing stations, as well as IR laser illumination of ground targets.

Features of the RQ-11 Raven unmanned aerial vehicle

The Raven allows military units to conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) over danger zones without committing soldiers. It allows the task force to monitor an area with a less obtrusive presence and live video capabilities during day and night.

Launched in just minutes, by hand, into the air like a model airplane, the Raven lands itself by auto-piloting to a near hover. It does not require carefully prepared landing strips. Requiring no elaborate support facilities, the Raven ideally suits forward-deployed units. Automated features and GPS technology make it simple to operate, requiring no specialised skills or in-depth flight training.

It delivers real-time colour or infra-red imagery to the ground control and remote viewing stations via three different cameras attached to the nose of the plane.

One of these is an electro optical camera that is placed either on the nose or side, the second is an infra-red camera in the nose and the third is an IR camera located on the side.

Because of the size of the technology the IR camera is fairly large and does not have a zoom so it cannot lock onto a target. It, however, does have high enough resolution to show whether someone is carrying a weapon.

RQ-11 orders

The US Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Special Operations Command are the primary users of Raven B.

"The RQ-11 Raven is a lightweight unmanned aircraft system (UAS). It is designed for rapid deployment and high mobility."
AeroVironment won the small unmanned aerial vehicles (SUAV) programme competition organised by the US Army in October 2005. The winning contract included supply of 2,182 Raven systems along with the ground control system and three air vehicles.

In 2010, the contract was increased to 2,358 Raven systems.

RQ 11B Raven's full-rate production for the US Army is scheduled up to 2015. There would be upgrades providing continuous system improvements over the life of the programme.

US allies such as Australia, Italy, Denmark, the UK and Spain have also begun acquiring the Raven. The UK has been using Raven equipment in Iraq.

The Royal Danish Army acquired 12 Raven systems in September 2007. Three systems are being used by the Huntsmen Corps. The remaining are deployed with the Artillery Training Centre. Around 72 Raven B systems have been acquired by the Netherlands Ministry of Defence at a cost of $23.74m.

The US Army placed a $13.8m contract in March 2013 for RQ-11B Raven systems, new miniature gimbaled payloads and initial spares packages.

It was followed by a $13.5m contract in August 2013 to deliver RQ-11B Raven SUAS and Mantis gimbaled payloads by September 2013. The US Army also awarded a $15.8m contract in May 2012.

AeroVironment received a $3.6m contract in March 2012 from the US Marine Corps to deliver RQ-11B Raven SUAS and initial spares packages.

Ground control unit

The GCU is a compact and lightweight system, which displays real-time videos and images captured by the vehicle's payload cameras.

The processing, retrieving and storing of the real-time data provided by the UAV is carried out at the GCU. It can also playback videos for target evaluation and alleviate retransmission of videos and meta data to the operations network.

The GCU can be operated as a remote video terminal (RVT) when implanted at remote location. It also allows the command centres to view and analyse the data. The GCU can be easily assembled or disassembled in two minutes.

The range and service ceiling of the aircraft are 10km and 4,500m respectively. Its maximum endurance is 90min.

Launched in just minutes, by hand, into the air like a model airplane, the Raven lands itself by auto-piloting to a near hover.

RQ-11 Raven Unmanned Aerial Vehicle - Army Technology
 
Top