Avalon 2011: Australian airshow witnesses UAV flight debut

Lockheed Martin's (LM) Stalker has become the first UAV to fly at the Avalon international airshow in Geelong on 2 March, coinciding with plans to make it available to the open market.

The small UAV, which has been in service for six years with special operations forces (SOF) in the US, conducted its flight alongside Avalon airport's runway, which has been used by a variety of aircraft this week including F-22s, F-18s and a B-1. UAVs at the show that did not fly include Insitu's ScanEagle and Israel Aerospace Industries' Heron.

The flight coincided with LM's decision to make Stalker available to the wider market, outside the special forces community, and was observed by several undisclosed potential customers, according to Thomas Koonce, programme manager for special projects at LM's Advanced Development Programs.

Describing why LM had made the decision to unveil the Stalker system to a larger audience, Koonce told Unmanned Vehicles: 'There is a perception that LM was not doing anything in UAVs.'

The company has supplied UK armed forces with 'hundreds' of Desert Hawk III airframes and is also engaged in an unmanned cargo airlift requirement for the US Marine Corps with the K-Max UAV.

It is understood that there is interest from the UK and Finland, as well as Australia which, UV was informed, has potential requirements for SOF as well as its Joint Project 129 Phase 4, which includes a hand-launched UAV for the Australian Defence Force.

Hand or bungee-launched, Stalker is capable of operating at altitudes up to 3,000 ft and can carry payloads up to 3lb. Koonce added that LM was also looking to double its endurance to 8 hours by utilising ruggedised fuel cell technology.

Originally designed as a squad-level surveillance system for special forces, the system has also been upgraded with ShotSpotter's acoustic gunfire detection system, which is capable of recognising and geo-locating small calibre and mortar rounds as well as rocket-propelled grenades. The airframe is also now available in a maritime configuration, meaning it can be recovered from water instead of skyhook or net.

Existing payloads include day and EO/IR cameras and laser illuminator and the UAV can also be tasked for target or convoy tracking. Koonce added that a major benefit of the system was its 'inaudibility' at altitudes over 400ft. Stalker is also capable of dropping a 3lb payload to resupply forward-deployed troops with supplies such as batteries, for example.