The B-model builds upon the inherent strengths found in the original Raven design in terms of mission endurance and capabilities to include support for IR illumination, upgraded GCU, a lighter operational weight and improved optics.The Raven was developed from the private venture FQM-151 Pointer SUAV appearing in 1999 which went on to be used by both the US Army and USMC.AeroVironmental, Incorporated is headed by aeronautical engineer Paul MacCready and was founded in 1971, headquartered out of Monrovia, California.The firm went on to produce a myriad if ingenious technology products including the first viable human-powered airplane, various solar-powered aircraft and solar-powered and conventionally-powered UAVs, the hydrogen-powered Global Observer, the solar-powered Sunraycer car and even a flying pterodactyl dinosaur repilca.
The Raven SUAV is currently in use by forces from Australia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Iraq, Italy, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom (on loan from the US) and the United States. Burundi and Uganda of the African Union are set to receive the type to combat insurgents in Somalia. The Raven can fulfill various aerial duties for both military and civilian markets but is best known for its military uses where it has been used to visually acquire targets of interest, gather area intelligence, or reconnoiter a location. To date, some 13,000 Ravens have been produced and are currently seeing extensive use in the hands of the US SOCOM (Special Forces), the United States Army and the United States Air Force as well as others in the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The small nature of the UAV has proven useful at the brigade, company and small unit levels by delivering real-time battlefield information. The Raven first flew in 2001 and was formally introduced in 2003. The entire Raven complex - aircraft and the applicable control station - runs upwards of 250,000. Design of the Raven UAV is conventional as aircraft go though key qualities of the system are its compact dimensions and hand-launched operation. The major working components of the airframe are contained in a rectangular fuselage capped by a curved nose cone assembly housing the all-important camera suite. Eg Aircraft Raven Full Stabilization AsAt the nose of the fuselage is a dual-forward, side-looking CCD EO camera system with electronic pan-tilt-zoom functionality and full stabilization as well as an Infrared night-vision camera with forward-looking and side-looking capability. A tailboom extends from the lower rear of the Raven fuselage and sports a single vertical tail fin with a single-piece horizontal tailplane. The main wing component of the Raven is noticeably canted upwards outboard of the fuselage. Power is supplied by a single Aveox 27267-AV electric motor which provides the aircraft with a top speed of 56 kilometers per hour and mission endurance is approximately 1 to 1.5 hours. The vehicle measures a running length of 55 inches and sports a wingspan of 4.5 feet with a 4.2lb operating weight. The RQ-11 can operate in both day and night environments thanks to its use of the daytime and infrared camera systems and can be controlled by a ground-based operator or arranged to fly autonomously via set waypoints, guided to each point by GPS navigation. Unlike larger, more powerful UAV platforms currently in service, the Ravens aerial surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities is limited by line-of-sight operation up to 10 kilometers though its video delivery is in real-time and full-color. An autoland function is built into the software to allow for recovery and reuse. Eg Aircraft Raven Series Was TheThe initial production form of the Raven series was the RQ-11A though this form is no longer being offered today. The US Army procured at least 376 Raven A models (after its selection as the winner of the Army SUAV competition) and this was followed by the enhanced RQ-11B Raven B which has also spawned the eight-channel RQ-11B as well as the RQ-11B DDL with Digital Data Link for frequency management and interoperability.
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