The bright orange aircraft on display in IMTS 2014 booth #W-20, GIE Media’s Today’s Technology Center, may at first appear to be little more than gaudy guided missiles, but their true function is to intelligently train elite pilots. The BQM 167i, BQM-177i, and the MQM-178 (featured on our poster) are jet-propelled targets that stand in for full-size aircraft in simulated tactical engagement situations. Made by Composite Engineering Inc. (CEi), part of Kratos Unmanned Systems Solutions’ advanced drones & target systems division, these high-performance targets are capable of flying a wide variety of speeds, altitudes, and profiles to meet the needs of the U.S. Department of Defense and friendly nations around the world.
Small but mighty
The smallest of CEi’s aerial targets – MQM-178 Firejet – offers a range of technology to support unmanned aerial adversary training. Although it is less than 11ft long and weighs only 130 lb empty, this Firejet model can carry a combination of internal and external payloads, including smoke oil, electronic scoring, passive and active radar augmentation, and infrared augmentation. It can carry these payloads in multiple configurations, including up to 40 lb carried internally, 10 lb on each wingtip, and 30 lb on either wing station. Its maximum launch weight is 320 lb.
Part of the reason for the high payload capacity is the extensive use of carbon-fiber composites in the Firejet’s construction and in the manufacture of many of its external payload bodies.
Composite construction also gives a performance advantage.
Bill Click, sales engineer for CEi, says, “Building with carbon fiber means our airframes can execute and withstand more highly dynamic maneuvers than other targets built with metal airframes.”
The MQM-178’s mission roles include anti-aircraft artillery training, surface-to-air, and air-to-air missile testing. Capable of flying low-and-slow or high-and-fast, Firejet offers users the opportunity to test multiple platforms with one aerial target system. The modular design allows technicians to replace both turbojet engines by removing only two bolts and a quick-disconnect wire harness.
Unlike its larger brothers, the MQM-178 can be launched pneumatically, which can significantly reduce launch costs by eliminating the need for rocket-assisted take-off (RATO). The Firejet’s launch system – suitable for ground or shipboard launch – is also adaptable to existing pneumatic launch systems. Recovery is made via a two-stage drogue parachute system.
CEi’s larger lineup
The BQM-167i – the international export version of the BQM-167A model that CEi produces for the U.S. Air Force – can fly at altitudes up to 12,000m (39,370ft) at speeds up to 0.93 Mach. Its fuel capacity of 284L (75 U.S. gal) permits longer time aloft, allowing more engagements per flight.
“The speeds, altitudes, maneuverability, payload capabilities, and ease-of-maintenance features of our target platforms represent a distinct technological evolution of past target systems,” Click says. “We are the sole-source provider of sub-scale aerial targets to the U.S. Air Force for this very reason.”
Designed to emulate a high-subsonic, sea-skimming anti-ship cruise missile, the BQM-177i is based on the model supplied to the U.S. Navy. Only slightly smaller than the BQM-167i, the BQM-177i can fly at 0.95 Mach at altitudes as low as 15ft (4.5m) above the surface up to 40,000ft (12,192m). All of the targets are capable of autonomous or remotely piloted flight.
With 80,000ft2 of manufacturing space in Sacramento, Calif., CEi possesses the engineering, manufacturing, and management capabilities required for the design, prototyping, testing, production, maintenance, and operational support of its family of aerial target systems. The company provides not only the aerial target drones, but also the command and control systems, all support equipment – including transportation trailers, maintenance carts, and launch equipment – and training to allow customers independent operations. If preferred, CEi personnel can deploy to customer-specified locations and assume responsibility for all target drone operations and maintenance in support of testing and training.
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A timeline of aerial targets Aerial targets such as those made by CEi can trace their lineage back to simple fabric-covered aerial target gliders developed by the U.S. military in the 1920s to train coast artillery gunners. The G-3 glider developed for the U.S. Army Air Corps was towed aloft by an airplane and released. As the glider drifted earthward, the plane’s pilot could make several gunnery passes against it. Starting in the mid-1930s, motion picture actor and model aviation enthusiast Reginald Denny demonstrated a series of 9ft-long radio-controlled planes with the hope of selling them to the U.S. Army for anti-aircraft target practice. In June 1941, the company Denny founded, Radioplane, started producing the RP-5A aerial target drone, designated as the OQ-2 by the U.S. Army and TDD-1 by the U.S. Navy. Despite its small size, this target aircraft – weighing 108 lb, with a 13ft, 3" wingspan, 8ft, 8" length, and powered a 6hp, 2-cylinder engine – mimicked a full-size aircraft in the way it looked, sounded, and flew. Launched from a catapult, the target, painted bright red for visibility, was controlled by a ground-based pilot. When it was time to land, the pilot deployed a 24ft-diameter parachute, and the target floated to the ground. Radioplane produced 14,891 drones for both services from 1941 through 1945, with other companies sharing in the production contracts. The Radioplane Corp. is famous for more than just drones. In 1945, one of the female production workers caught the eye of an army photographer, David Conover, sent to take pictures of women doing war work. A color photo of a 19-year-old, RP-5A assembly line worker, Norma Jeane Baker, was featured in the service publication, Yank, the Army Weekly. After the war, the photogenic woman became widely known under her new name – Marilyn Monroe. The advent of fighter-jet aircraft spurred development of high-speed target drones. In the 1950s, the Ryan Aeronautical Co. developed the first Q-2 Firebee. Capable of being launched from the ground or dropped from an airplane in flight, the Q-2 and later models were used as targets for training fighter-interceptor pilots whose planes were now armed with air-to-air missiles. The success of this type of remotely piloted vehicle spawned many variants, including models designed for photo reconnaissance and electronic surveillance missions. Flights of CEi-designed carbon-fiber composite construction aerial targets began in 2001. Since 2002, CEi has been the sole-source provider of subscale aerial targets to the U.S. Air Force with the BQM-167A, and a supplier to the U.S. Navy of its BQM-177A. |
Composite Engineering Inc.
www.compositeeng.com
Kratos Unmanned Systems Solutions
www.kratosuss.com
About the author: Eric Brothers is senior editor of AMD and can be reached at 330.523.5341 or ebrothers@gie.net.
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