__NOTOC__ The Sagem ''Crecerelle'' ("

Kestrel The term kestrel (from french: crécerelle, derivative from , i.e. ratchet) is the common name given to several species of predatory birds from the falcon genus ''Falco''. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviou ...

") is a reconnaissance

UAV 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 controlle ...

developed in France in the 1990s, based on the

Meggitt Banshee The BTT3 Banshee, formerly the Target Technology Banshee & Meggitt Banshee, is a British target drone developed in the 1980s for air defence systems training. Design and development The Banshee was developed by Target Technology Ltd. The compa ...

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 operational ...

. Its configuration is much like that of the Banshee, with a pusher prop, a clipped delta wing, and a single tailfin, though its fuselage is more cylindrical. It is powered by a 20 kW (26 hp) rotary engine and has no landing gear, being recovered by parachute and airbags. The Crecerelle saw action with French forces during the Kosovo campaign in 1999.

Meggitt Parker Meggitt (formerly Meggitt plc) is a British international company specialising in components and sub-systems for the aerospace, defence and selected energy markets. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the ...

sells much the same machine as the Spectre.

Specifications

References

''Jane's Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Targets''
This article contains material that originally came from the web articl

by Greg Goebel, which exists in the Public Domain. 1990s French military reconnaissance aircraft Unmanned military aircraft of France Tailless delta-wing aircraft Crecerelle {{Aero-1990s-stub