Are drones silently soaring over Iran?
Long range, low level, silent, stealthy, persistent, and hand launched: certainly useful attributes in a drone. No doubt many platforms are busy in the skies in and around Iran at the moment. Could some of them be pretending to be and flying like birds?
Back in August 2011 a bird shaped drone crash landed at Chaman, Pakistan just over the border from Afghanistan. Electrically powered and with what were reported as two cameras on board.Witnesses in Chaman said that the aircraft was in the air from at least 17h00 and remained circling for two hours coming down at around 19h00.
Perhaps it was limping home from points unknown and loitered waiting for friendlies to come closer and retrieve it.
Its not the first time bird like drones have been proposed. CIA Project Aquiline sought to create a low flying platform to go and have a look at a strange new aircraft flying in the Caspian Sea and at Chinese nuclear ambitions. Over 40 years ago, McDonald Douglas built several six foot wingspan bird shaped platforms. They were test flown at Groom Lake, Area 51. There are no known images of the actual platform,( its too secret!) There are a couple of images of desk models on the web.
The Douglas’ airframe had a video camera on board to help with guidance. Its images beamed back to photo interpreters via satellite or high flying U2 spy planes. These would then be checked for position and navigation updated accordingly. The 35mm image “collect” would be examined once the aircraft reached safe territory and the camera had been recovered. Test flying was not without incident and several were lost. The project was cancelled in December 1971 due to high costs and remaining airframes were placed in storage.
Was the craft that came down last year in Pakistan perhaps Project Aquiline II?
A modern equivalent might make use of advances in autopilot technology and thinking. Instead of the U2 use a Predator for a communications link – there were plenty of them being operated by the CIA just down the road at Bhandari Airstrip. Flight operations from Bhandari in May 2011. Being moved into Afghanistan itself the CIA certainly had aircraft available in the region.
Electric power is silent and convenient, it does not make for long flight times though. So, add in some clever on board thinking by the airframe to allow it to utilize thermals to climb and then glide until the next thermal and huzzah- you have a platform that can hang around during daylight hours.
Daniel Edwards for his doctorate at North Carolina State University has successfully demonstrated autonomous soaring flight. In 2008 his ALOFT
(Autonomous Locator of Thermals) platform managed to place 3rd in a competition for radio controlled model gliders at Montague, California -the very first time an autonomous thermal hunting glider had been entered into a competition. Radio-controlled cross-country soaring is a team sport. Each team consists of 2-4 people. Pilot, driver, and spotter. The team then drives a vehicle while following the plane around a pre-determined course and turn points. Competitors are judged on total distance flown or fastest speed on course. Daniels longest flight as part of the competition was just shy of 40 miles.
After the Montague competition the ALOFT aircraft unofficially beat the 2005 out and back world distance record of 39.1 km for models in its class. ALOFT flew on its first attempt 48.6km or a 97.2 km round trip in a flight time of 3.5 hours. For 98% of the flight it was on its own.
Frenchman Jean Louis Naudin, is also experimenting with autonomous soaring, he has flown several flights and has some very compelling simulation videos. His flight testing will continue when summer returns to Europe shortly.
No big oceans in Afghanistan but if the algorithms had been perfected for DS from waves then slope soaring over known areas of lift, (slope lift can be predicated when the surface wind and terrain are known) Then loitering would become even more straightforward.
Adding ridge lift into the equation would allow a bird platform to keep flying as long as the wind was blowing against usable slopes. Even at night.
The aircraft that crashed was fitted with a propeller. For climbing from launch and flying to safety when all else fails its a must. But perhaps it also has another function.
It is possible to make a propeller on an electric aircraft whilst free-wheeling and acting as a windmill to recharge batteries. Should the lift during soaring be strong and a great height reached. The propeller could be allowed to spin and top up internal power for sensors fitted in the descent.
Imagine now a flock of bird drones spending their days flying at low level snapping high resolution pictures of pre-determined areas. At night they head for slopes and climb as high as they can and refuel by harvesting energy from the sky.
Next day, once it gets thermic they start roaming again.
As they fly perhaps they keep each other informed of the lift they find and start building a better picture of where the lift is forming and tracking. Climbing during the day the best they can until a decision point is reached. Stay out for the night or come home.
Since they would only have small low powered transmitters onboard the data they are collecting is relayed via larger drones as they go about their normal day to day work.
If the weather forecast shows ridge or thermal lift is due to decrease the flock might be called home or to safe areas to land. Sensors are switched off and internal power drive the craft home.
Did CIA Project Aquiline really disappear or is it out there in a more elegant form?
