ORAC
27th Feb 2003, 14:10
LA Times - Thursday Feb 27:
Archangel Provides a Sky-High View at Bargain-Basement Price
By James F. Peltz.
Former Northrop Grumman Corp. engineer Roy Wubker Jr. believes he's developed an unmanned spy plane that can be the Pentagon's equivalent of a disposable camera.
While his former employer sells state-of-the-art, $30-million jet-powered surveillance drones to the Defense Department, Wubker's tiny Systems Research & Development Corp. in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., is selling a $40,000, unmanned propeller-driven plane he calls Archangel. His lower-cost unmanned aerial vehicle also can fly over enemy terrain and send back images and data to a U.S. commander in the field -- or anywhere else in the world.
"We are very impressed with the capabilities of SRDC's Archangel," said Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin. "It offers a favorable combination" at a relatively low cost. Various military special operations units have ordered about 100 of Wubker's UAVs, and his 22 employees are building six to eight a month, he said. The Pentagon declines to confirm the number of orders, and Wubker's company is privately held.
But there's no question the military is stepping up its use of unmanned spy planes, and cheaper, expendable UAVs such as Wubker's are getting a chance.Smaller drones "can provide on-demand, real-time information ... such as what's on top of a particular building, over the hill or around the corner," said Larry Dickerson, a defense analyst with research firm Forecast International in Newtown, Conn...........
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is letting the military buy off-the-shelf gear directly instead of going through the Pentagon's lengthy procurement process. And that's prodded innovators such as Wubker, 41, who started his firm after leaving Northrop in 1989, to design much cheaper drones that can still quickly relay critical data.
Indeed, he and many others in the defense sector -- including the Pentagon itself -- see Archangel not as a rival that would cut orders for the Global Hawk and the Predator, but as a complement to those UAVs.
"They all have their place," Wubker said. His goal, he added, is to get the price per unit down to $10,000 apiece once orders reach about 2,000 planes. At that price, "it will be no different than buying a TV set from Wal-Mart," Wubker said.
The propeller-driven Archangel weighs 90 to 100 pounds, has a range of 2,200 miles and can stay aloft for 30 hours without landing. They are sold in pairs for up to $86,000, depending on how they're outfitted.............
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Wubker (http://comm.db.erau.edu/leader/spring2002/innovate.html)
.....The result is a 24-plus-hour endurance, autonomous, expendable unmanned aircraft with an iridium telephone-based SATCOM data-link that can send images and sensor data to a laptop anywhere.
........this system leverages the latest in low-cost, commercial off-the-shelf technology. The aircraft sends images and sensor data at preselected global positioning system coordinates or time intervals to a laptop connected to a telephone line anywhere on the globe. Because commands can be sent from the laptop during a data call, the user can re-route the aircraft's flight plan in-flight, as well. The autonomous navigation system requires no piloting skills or base-station controller. Approximately 200 aircraft can be deployed on a single C-130 transport on five standard pallets with two technicians.
"In the field, technicians snap the aircraft together and start the engine, and the aircraft flies to its first GPS waypoint. Two aircraft are packaged turnkey in each shipping container, which itself reassembles into a catapult that can launch the craft from confined areas such as ship helipads and submarine decks.
The overall long-endurance configuration we call "Archangel" achieves flight control through thrust vectoring of the aircraft's ducted propeller propulsor unit. The 90-pound aircraft can fly for approximately 30 hours with a range of 2,200 nautical miles.
SRD Corp (http://www.uavforum.com/vendors/systems/srdc.htm). ;)
Archangel Provides a Sky-High View at Bargain-Basement Price
By James F. Peltz.
Former Northrop Grumman Corp. engineer Roy Wubker Jr. believes he's developed an unmanned spy plane that can be the Pentagon's equivalent of a disposable camera.
While his former employer sells state-of-the-art, $30-million jet-powered surveillance drones to the Defense Department, Wubker's tiny Systems Research & Development Corp. in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., is selling a $40,000, unmanned propeller-driven plane he calls Archangel. His lower-cost unmanned aerial vehicle also can fly over enemy terrain and send back images and data to a U.S. commander in the field -- or anywhere else in the world.
"We are very impressed with the capabilities of SRDC's Archangel," said Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin. "It offers a favorable combination" at a relatively low cost. Various military special operations units have ordered about 100 of Wubker's UAVs, and his 22 employees are building six to eight a month, he said. The Pentagon declines to confirm the number of orders, and Wubker's company is privately held.
But there's no question the military is stepping up its use of unmanned spy planes, and cheaper, expendable UAVs such as Wubker's are getting a chance.Smaller drones "can provide on-demand, real-time information ... such as what's on top of a particular building, over the hill or around the corner," said Larry Dickerson, a defense analyst with research firm Forecast International in Newtown, Conn...........
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is letting the military buy off-the-shelf gear directly instead of going through the Pentagon's lengthy procurement process. And that's prodded innovators such as Wubker, 41, who started his firm after leaving Northrop in 1989, to design much cheaper drones that can still quickly relay critical data.
Indeed, he and many others in the defense sector -- including the Pentagon itself -- see Archangel not as a rival that would cut orders for the Global Hawk and the Predator, but as a complement to those UAVs.
"They all have their place," Wubker said. His goal, he added, is to get the price per unit down to $10,000 apiece once orders reach about 2,000 planes. At that price, "it will be no different than buying a TV set from Wal-Mart," Wubker said.
The propeller-driven Archangel weighs 90 to 100 pounds, has a range of 2,200 miles and can stay aloft for 30 hours without landing. They are sold in pairs for up to $86,000, depending on how they're outfitted.............
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Wubker (http://comm.db.erau.edu/leader/spring2002/innovate.html)
.....The result is a 24-plus-hour endurance, autonomous, expendable unmanned aircraft with an iridium telephone-based SATCOM data-link that can send images and sensor data to a laptop anywhere.
........this system leverages the latest in low-cost, commercial off-the-shelf technology. The aircraft sends images and sensor data at preselected global positioning system coordinates or time intervals to a laptop connected to a telephone line anywhere on the globe. Because commands can be sent from the laptop during a data call, the user can re-route the aircraft's flight plan in-flight, as well. The autonomous navigation system requires no piloting skills or base-station controller. Approximately 200 aircraft can be deployed on a single C-130 transport on five standard pallets with two technicians.
"In the field, technicians snap the aircraft together and start the engine, and the aircraft flies to its first GPS waypoint. Two aircraft are packaged turnkey in each shipping container, which itself reassembles into a catapult that can launch the craft from confined areas such as ship helipads and submarine decks.
The overall long-endurance configuration we call "Archangel" achieves flight control through thrust vectoring of the aircraft's ducted propeller propulsor unit. The 90-pound aircraft can fly for approximately 30 hours with a range of 2,200 nautical miles.
SRD Corp (http://www.uavforum.com/vendors/systems/srdc.htm). ;)