The AeroVironment RQ-14 Dragon Eye is a small reconnaissance

miniature UAV A miniature UAV, small UAV (SUAV), or drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle small enough to be man-portable. Smallest UAVs are called micro air vehicle. Miniature UAVs range from micro air vehicles (MAVs) that can be carried by an infantryman, t ...

developed by the

Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. It was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, applied research, technological ...

and the

Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory The United States Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL) was established in 1995, at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. The organization was originally known as the Commandant's Warfighting Laboratory. The battle lab is part of Combat Dev ...

for use by the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

Design and development

It is a tailless design with a rectangular wing and twin props. It is designed to fit into a backpack, with a weight of and a span of . It can be launched by hand or using a store-bought bungee cord. It also uses a break-apart system to increase durability—parts of the plane break apart instead of shattering and can be reattached later or replaced with new parts. It has a GPS-

INS INS or Ins or ''variant'', may refer to: Places * Ins, Switzerland, a municipality * Creech Air Force Base (IATA airport code INS) * Indonesia, ITF and UNDP code INS Biology *'' Ins'', a New World genus of bee flies * INS, the gene for the insul ...

-based waypoint navigation system. The operator monitors Dragon Eye operation through "video goggles" connected to a laptop computer. The control system weighs about . The Dragon Eye aircraft is used primarily for scouting urban areas, and is especially useful in urban assaults. Its camera, when used with a trained Marine, can be used to spot enemies without alerting them to the UAV's presence. The production contract for Dragon Eye was awarded to AeroVironment in 2003, and over 1000 aircraft were built before the Marines switched over to another UCAV of AeroVironment ( RQ-11 Raven B) for the remainder of the Dragon Eye production contract. The Dragon Eye has been used in Iraq, post-invasion, from 2003–present.

General characteristics

* Length: * Wingspan: * Ceiling: * Weight: * Cruising speed: * Battery Endurance: 1 hour * Range: * Transmission Range: * Endurance: 45–60 minutes

References

AeroVironment Dragon Eye data sheet

- from globalsecurity.org.

External links

AeroVironment Dragon Eye

- from

U.S. Joint Forces Command United States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) was a Unified Combatant Command of the United States Department of Defense. USJFCOM was a functional command that provided specific services to the military. The last commander was Army Gen. Ray Odie ...

.
Dragoneye Update

AeroVironment, Inc.
{{Q-UAVs Q-14R Airborne military robots 2000s United States military reconnaissance aircraft Unmanned military aircraft of the United States Aircraft first flown in 2001