Le Mantis de BAE

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] has conducted the first few flights of its Mantis unmanned air vehicle under a technology demonstration effort jointly funded by the UK Ministry of Defence.
Performed at the Woomera test range in South Australia, the flights have seen the fully autonomous design "successfully complete a series of trials demonstrating the capability of the system and the potential of large unmanned systems to support future UK operational needs", says BAE.
The work has also "helped build confidence in the feasibility of a UK-derived medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial system," says Air Vice Marshal Simon Bollom, director combat air for the MoD's Defence Equipment & Support organisation.
Mantis had originally been expected to fly early this year, but BAE says the milestone still took place within 19 months of concept work. "This achievement is testament to the can-do approach of the whole team working on this programme," says Chris Allam, managing director of the company's autonomous systems and future capability business.
The Mantis programme also involves companies including GE Aviation, Meggitt, QinetiQ, Rolls-Royce and Selex Galileo.
Powered by two turboprop engines, the all-electric Mantis air vehicle has a 20m (65ft) wingspan. The current "Spiral 1" design was unveiled at the 2008 Farnborough air show as a UK alternative to designs such as the US General Atomics MQ-9 Predator B/Reaper. The domestic system is intended to carry a variety of advanced sensors and precision-guided air-to-surface weapons.
BAE says a production version of Mantis would have a maximum take-off weight of about 9t, operate at altitudes up to 55,000ft and perform missions including intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance, plus close air support for ground forces.

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] has been awarded a contract to continue work on its [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] that could lead to a major decision on its future with the UK's forthcoming Strategic Defence Review. The work will focus on risk-reduction activities in preparation for a decision to develop an operational Mantis-class vehicle.
The UK's Labour government intends to support Mantis activities until a decision on its future is taken after the SDR, which will be conducted following a general election expected in May.
"The funding must be in place to maintain work on Mantis," says UK minister of state for strategic defence acquisition reform Lord Drayson. "Out of the SDR there must be a clear sense of priorities how [Mantis] develops in the future - I am open to consider that," he said during a visit to BAE's Warton facility in Lancashire on 9 March

BAE hails Mantis UAV success, nears Taranis roll-out

BAE Systems' Mantis unmanned air vehicle technology demonstrator has been shipped back to the UK, after completing a successful first flight-test campaign in Australia.
Returned to BAE's Warton site in Lancashire in mid-June, the Mantis is in rebuild ahead of undergoing further ground-based system development work at the site. However, the company has yet to decide whether its current demonstrator will be flown again.
"Mantis was about demonstrating an end-to-end capability," says Dave Kershaw, business development and strategy director for Autonomous Systems & Future Capability, part of BAE's Military Air Systems unit. "The test flights went to show that it could go to the endurance planned."
The twin turboprop-powered aircraft made an undisclosed number of flights from the Woomera test range in South Australia, including five described as "mission-representative". Kershaw says these included tasks such as automatically tracking a ground area for targets, and cross-cueing the aircraft's two on-board payloads: an L-3 Wescam MX-20 electro-optical/infrared camera and BAE's imagery collection and exploitation system.

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]

One night flight was also made, and BAE also assessed the time needed to prepare the UAV to take off again after completing a sortie. This demonstrated a 30min performance. The 19.8m (65ft) wingspan Mantis made its first flight from Woomera in November 2009.
BAE says a production version of Mantis would be able to fly at altitudes up to 50,000ft and deliver an endurance of over 36h. The design is a potential candidate for the UK Ministry of Defence's Scavenger requirement, which seeks a persistent intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance capability to enter use from around 2015 to 2018.
The MoD is expected to downselect its preferred option for Scavenger in 2012, with possible alternatives including the X-UAS development of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Defence & Security's Talarion UAV, which is already being offered to France, Germany, Spain and Turkey. However, the UK is also looking at whether its requirements could be met under a potential collaboration with the French defence ministry, Kershaw says.
Meanwhile, BAE will roll out its Taranis unmanned combat air vehicle demonstrator (artist's impression pictured below) during an event to be staged at its Warton facility on 12 July.

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]