Latest Desert Hawk features intricate sensor package

Lockheed Martin has significantly upgraded its Desert Hawk hand-launched unmanned aerial system (UAS). At the Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting in Washington held the first week in October, company representatives were trying to get the Army to notice — and entice — its existing customers in the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence to acquire new systems.

The Desert Hawk, in its earlier incarnation, is already in service with the British Army and the Special Air Service. But the new Desert Hawk III, on display at AUSA, has added a number of firsts for a pack-carried, hand-launched UAS, according to Bill Daly, a business development manager with Lockheed Martin Tactical Systems. Those include modular sensor payloads with 360-degree rotating electro-optical or infrared cameras, allowing the UAS to keep an eye on a target without changing course and re-acquiring it. Additionally, the Desert Hawk III can carry a signals intelligence sensor that can intercept and locate the source of radio transmissions.

Both of these features are significant improvements over existing hand-launched UASs, Daly said. “In the past, we couldn’t get an infrared system small enough to put in a turret like this because of the size of the cooling system required for the sensor,” he said. The new infrared sensor set, manufactured by FLIR Systems, is smaller than the typical head-mounted infrared sensors used by soldiers and Marines. And the optical sensor is also an advancement, offering up to 10 times optical magnification.

The Army already has widely deployed the RQ-11 Raven from Aerovironment, which weighs in at 4.2 pounds – a little more than half the weight of the 8-pound Desert Hawk III. But Daly said that Lockheed Martin is looking at a number of potential U.S. and foreign government customers for its competitor, and has already shown the UAS to its British customers.

“This [the Desert Hawk] could potentially be used in a maritime environment, launched from a [rigid inflatable boat] to check a beach, or for board and search operations like the anti-piracy operations off Somalia,” he said.

The Defense Department plans to increase funding for unmanned systems in fiscal 2010 to $5.4 billion, up 18.4 percent from the $4.53 billion spent on such systems in fiscal 2009.