AeroVironment RQ-14 Dragon Eye

"Dragon eye" redirects here. For the manga by Kairi Fujiyama, see Dragon Eye (manga). For the Asian fruit tree, see Longan.

RQ-14 Dragon Eye UAV

A Dragon Eye UAV
Role	Remote controlled UAV^[1]
Manufacturer	AeroVironment
First flight	June 2001
Introduction	Mid-2002
Primary user	United States Marine Corps

A marine checks a DE-903 UAV

The Dragon Eye Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is a small reconnaissance Miniature UAV developed by the Naval Research Laboratory and the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory for use by the U.S. Marine Corps.

It is a tailless design with a rectangular wing and twin props. It is designed to fit into a backpack, with a weight of 2.25 kilograms (5 pounds) and a span of 1.14 meters (3 feet 9 inches). It can be launched by hand or using a store-bought bungee cord. It also uses a break-apart system to increase durability—parts of the plane break apart instead of shattering and can be reattached later or replaced with new parts. It has a GPS-INS-based waypoint navigation system.

One of the interesting features is that the operator monitors Dragon Eye operation through "video goggles" connected to a laptop computer. The control system weighs about 5.4 kilograms (12 pounds).

The Dragon Eye aircraft is used primarily for scouting urban areas, and is especially useful in urban assaults. Its camera, when used with a trained Marine, can be used to spot enemies without alerting them to the UAV's presence.

The production contract for Dragon Eye was awarded to AeroVironment in 2003, and over 1000 aircraft were built before the Marines switched over to another UCAV of AeroVironment (RQ-11 Raven B) for the remainder of the Dragon Eye production contract.

The Dragon Eye has been used in post-invasion Iraq, 2003–present.

General characteristics

Length: 0.9 m (3 ft)
Wingspan: 1.1 m (3.75 ft)
Ceiling: 90 to 150 m (300–500 ft)
Weight: 2.7 kg (5.9 lb)
Cruising speed: 65 km/h (40 mph)
Battery Endurance: 1 hour
Range: 5 km (3.1 mi)
Transmission Range: 10 km (6.2 mi)
Endurance: 45–60 minutes

References

↑ http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app2/q-14.html

AeroVironment Dragon Eye data sheet
Specs - from globalsecurity.org.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to AeroVironment RQ-14 Dragon Eye.

United States tri-service Q-series UAV designations post-1962

Main series	Q-1/C Q-2 Q-3 Q-4/C Q-5 Q-6 Q-7 Q-8/C Q-9 Q-10 Q-11 Q-12 Q-13¹ Q-14 Q-15 Q-16 Q-17 Q-18 Q-19 Q-20 Q-21 Q-22 Q-23 Q-24 Q-25 Q-26

Non-sequential	Q-170 Q-180

¹ Not assigned See also: Boeing Insitu ScanEagle Drones designated in missile sequence

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/5/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.