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Dragon Eye is a
five-pound, back-packable, modular unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
providing organic aerial reconnaissance and surveillance for the
US Marine Corps at low tactical units levels. Dragon Eye's twin
electric engines run quietly on battery power. It is flown
autonomously at an altitude of 150m'. The total weight of the
Dragon Eye is 2.5 kg, of the payload (camera and equipment)
weighs 1 pound. The US Marines Corps are planning to procure an
enhanced version of Dragon-Eye, known as
model X-63.
 The system is
carried in a standard backpack, disassembled into five sections
and carried with the 5 kg control station. Prior to the mission
it is quickly assembled in the field within ten minutes. Dragon
Eye is made of lightweight Styrofoam-like materials. It has a 18
cm wingspan once assembled and weighs about five pounds. The
missions is programmed on the control station and transmitted to
the UAV via wireless modem. The UAV is launched by a bungee cord
or by hand. After launch it climbs to the cruise altitude and
sweeps through the pre-assigned waypoints, navigating via GPS.
The fuselage mounted side looking sensor comprises of a
low-light b/w camera, capable of transmitting live video to the
ground station from a distance of 10 km, via line-of-sight video
datalink. Operator's training requires less than a week for
soldiers to be able to operate them.
A Dragon Eye
system consists of two air vehicles, four cameras, two
replacement noses and one ground control station. The target
cost at full rate production is approximately $60,000-70,000 per
system. Aero Vironment has won the competition to supply the 342
Dragon Eye systems to the USMC from 2004 through 2006. The
system is expected to field with initially at battalion and
company level and further reach down to the platoon.
The Dragon Eye
is undergoing further development with testing of a
high-resolution 640 x 480 infrared camera, development of a
communications relay payload, an integrated communications
system, and introduction of experimentation with alternate power
supplies and air vehicle design to improve endurance. A
prototype zinc-air battery developed by Arotech Corp's Electric
Fuel subsidiary has already been tested with the Dragon Eye
unmanned drone.
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Air vehicle: 2.5
kg
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Wing span: 18 cm
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GCS – 6 kg
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Endurance: 60
minutes
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Cruise speed: 65
km/h
An enhanced version is currently under development at
Aerovironment based on requirements and operational feedback from
combat units operating the drone. The Dragon Eye UAV Block
Upgrade, also known as X-63 will get air frame modifications and
improved power sources increasing its loitering capability. It
will have an autopilot for improved landing accuracy and in-flight
navigation, and a new sensor payload with an IR and zoom camera
that will providing true day/night capability. The system will
have a new Level-4 compliant communications control board with 16
software selectable channels for uplink and downlink, twice the
current capacity.
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