The Nord Aviation CT20 was a French turbojet-powered radio-controlled

target drone A target drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle, generally remote controlled, usually used in the training of anti-aircraft crews. One of the earliest drones was the British DH.82 Queen Bee, a variant of the Tiger Moth trainer aircraft operationa ...

introduced in 1957. Developed from the Arsenal / S.F.E.C.M.A.S. T.5.510, the CT.20 was built by

Nord Aviation Nord-Aviation ( en, Northern Aviation) was a state-owned French aircraft manufacturer. The bulk of its facilities were based on the site of Bourges airport, in the département of Cher, in central France. On 1 October 1954, Nord Aviation was c ...

and powered by a

Turbomeca Marboré The Turbomeca Marboré is a small turbojet engine that was produced by Turbomeca from the 1950s into the 1970s. The most popular uses of this engine were in the Fouga CM.170 Magister and the Morane-Saulnier MS.760 Paris. It was also licensed for ...

II engine, providing a top speed of and a flying time of 55 to 60 minutes. It has been noted for its similarity to the

Ryan Firebee The Ryan Firebee is a series of target drones developed by the Ryan Aeronautical Company beginning in 1951. It was one of the first jet-propelled drones, and remains one of the most widely used target drones ever built. Development Ryan Fireb ...

. The

unmanned drone An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

was used in the development of

air-to-air missile The newest and the oldest member of Rafael's Python family of AAM for comparisons, Python-5 (displayed lower-front) and Shafrir-1 (upper-back) An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying a ...

s following the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the startup of the

turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...

, the target drone is placed on a ramp and launched using two rockets. During its flight, the drone is controlled via

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

signals from the ground. As it is made of light material, it is

buoyant Buoyancy (), or upthrust, is an upward force exerted by a fluid that opposes the weight of a partially or fully immersed object. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus the pr ...

in water and can be recovered if it is forced to land on water.

Variants

;Arsenal T.5.510 / S.F.E.C.M.A.S. T.5.510 : Original design work and development of the CT.20 carried out before SFECMAS was absorbed by SNCAN. ;CT20 :Radio controlled target ;R20 :Battlefield reconnaissance drone. 62 built for French Army. ;

Saab Rb 08 Robot 08 (Rb 08) was a Swedish anti-ship missile. It was the first operational ship-based anti-ship missiles. The design was a development of the French Nord Aviation CT20 target missile and was manufactured by Saab. The project to develop the wea ...

Anti-ship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A good ...

(AShM) version of CT20 for

Royal Swedish Navy The Swedish Navy ( sv, Svenska marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet () – as well as marine units, the Amphibious Corps (). In Swedish, vessels of ...

. 68 built.

Specifications (CT.20)

References

{{Nord aircraft CT20 Target drones of France Single-engined jet aircraft Mid-wing aircraft V-tail aircraft

Variants

Specifications (CT.20)

See also

References