Tiny Cellular Phones Beget New Airborne Sensor Clan

Leveraging its strength in mobile telecommunications and automotive electronics, a large French conglomerate is funding advances in military research and development. The defense activity segment of this company specializes in the development and production of sensors, guidance and navigation, avionics, flight control systems and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Officials at this Paris-based company believe that battlefield information distribution is at the center of its skills. This approach implies near-real-time distribution of relevant information as a prerequisite to decision making at various levels of command. Groupe SAGEM’s military and security division implements technologies for observation and target acquisition, data processing, digital cartography, military telecommunications and message handling.

As unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) increasingly are used in military operations, SAGEM is developing a strong position with the implementation of new multiple payload and multiple mission concepts. The company provides tactical UAVs that operate at various ranges—Crecerelle for France, Sperwer for the Netherlands, and Denmark and UGGLAN for Sweden and the TMD3, a hand-launched, short-range system. SAGEM also provides the long-endurance Horus, based on the U.S. Predator design from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems.

With almost half of Groupe SAGEM’s net sales of 3.4 billion euros ($3.2 billion) in international activities, its communications and automotive business units produce 1.9 billion euros ($1.8 billion) and 739 million euros ($703 million), respectively. These are rapid growth areas for the company, which has 15,600 employees. The defense and security division accounts for 756 million euros ($719 million).

Acquisition in 1999 of SFIM places SAGEM in a competitive position among other European defense electronics firms. This is especially the case in guidance systems, inertial navigation and electro-optics. But the company’s defense segment plays a growing role in Europe’s UAV and observation systems.

SAGEM recently unveiled its day or night TMD3 UAV, which is carried in a backpack for quick assembly—within 5 minutes—in forward battlefield areas. TMD3’s range is approximately 10 kilometers (6 miles), with an endurance of more than an hour. Assembled, the sensor platform’s dimensions are 3.4 x 2.1 x 0.3 meters. Empty, the UAV weighs 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) and 9 kilograms (19.8 pounds) when equipped with a mission payload. The company claims this system can help provide critical situational awareness in close proximity to an enemy.

Powered by a brushless motor, the TMD3’s handheld launch preserves stealthy takeoff and flight operations. The tiny UAV carries sensors that provide low-level acoustic and infrared signatures. SAGEM officials claim that no aeronautical pilot skills are required and that the UAV uses a simple highly automated operating system. A single waypoint is sufficient for TMD3’s takeoff, but additional waypoints can be entered during flight. The UAV is under the control of an automatic pilot but can be manually controlled using commands such as right, left, up or down.

A small, ruggedized, handheld, touchscreen “investigation” groundstation receives tactical information from the TMD3 to enhance digital map displays. Reconnaissance information from the UAV’s sensors is transmitted to the investigation station in real time via a digital datalink for display.

The Sperwer UAV’s endurance is 6 hours, and the mission range is 200 kilometers (124 miles) carrying a 45-kilogram (99-pound) payload. Sensor payloads include electro-optic and infrared line-of-sight cameras, synthetic aperture radar, and electronic intelligence and jamming systems, all of which can change orientation. Sperwer operates from any unprepared sight; no runway or landing strip is necessary.

Mounted in a rotating chin turret beneath Sperwer’s nose, the payload features a daylight and infrared sensor incorporating a high-performance 8- to 12-micron forward looking infrared (FLIR) device with a 288 x 4 focal plane array detector and a charge-coupled device (CCD) high-resolution camera. SAGEM officials say target detection range is 12 kilometers. The system provides automatic tracking of ground objects, with target positioning accuracy sufficient for a first-round hit, even at maximum range.

Other Sperwer payloads are an imaging synthetic aperture radar (SAR), a communications jammer, and equipment for electronic support measures/electronic intelligence and atmospheric data gathering. The UAV’s flight domain is from 1,000 to 17,000 feet, with a digital datalink range of 200 kilometers (124 miles). Operating with a 70-horsepower piston engine, this stealthy platform uses technology to reduce radar and infrared signatures. The UAV is connected to a corps-level data gathering center to provide updates on the tactical situation.

A ground control station (GCS) for flight control and mission exploitation is generally mounted in a truck; however, an alternate ground segment offers a miniground control station and a manportable mobile receiving unit. A truck carries a pneumatic catapult launcher and handles three UAVs. The air vehicle also can be handed off to a distant GCS, depending on the payload, increasing mission range up to 400 kilometers (248 miles). Target coordinates are directly transferred to an artillery network data terminal integrated in the GCS for target designation and real-time fire adjustment.

The 3- to 5-hour endurance tactical Crecerelle reconnaissance UAV is used by the French army for real-time surveillance and target acquisition. The flight vehicle uses electro-optic, FLIR and a line scanner with daylight and infrared capability, or SAR payload. The line scanner infrared sensor provides a 120-degree field of view and an 8- to 12-micron spectrum. The visible CCD provides 4,096 pixels per line and a 30- to 90-degree field of view. The system includes a panoramic infrared camera and can detect targets from 1 to 1.6 meters in size from altitudes of 1,000 to 5,000 feet. Vehicle detection slant range is 6.2 kilometers (3.9 miles).

The mission range is from 60 to 90 kilometers (37 to 56 miles), depending on payload and altitude. The flight domain is up to 13,000 feet, and the speed is between 130 to 240 kilometers an hour (70 to 130 knots). The UAV uses a global positioning system for autonomous navigation; however, digital guidance and autopilot control the vehicle within its flight domain. Crecerelle can fly autonomously with the uplink cut off for covert operations and is recovered by parachute.

Combining two core technologies with a data processing capability enables SAGEM to provide systems for forces that include inertial and hybrid navigation systems for land, naval and aerospace applications; missile system inertial guidance; thermal imagers and infrared search and track systems; airborne surveillance control systems for artillery, armored vehicles and helicopters; battlefield information systems and encryption and secure communications systems. The company’s technology is used in integrated avionics for hundreds of fighter aircraft worldwide, including missile warning systems for first-line fighters, such as the French Mirage 2000.   —CAR