Teledyne FLIR Defense this week is showing off a hunter-killer unmanned aircraft system (UAS) solution based on its SkyRaider 80 quadcopter that includes a drone equipped with the company’s new multi-role laser target designator and another that integrates a short-range laser guided munition.
The SkyRaider MK-1 includes a two-munition launcher being developed by Ordnance Aero and the Pike precision-guided munition supplied by Raytheon Technologies [RTX]. The Pike has a range of about 2,300 yards, according to Raytheon.
The launcher is integrated on the man-packable, SkyRaider small UAS via an open architecture payload development kit developed by Teledyne FLIR Defense that can support payloads weighing nearly eight pounds. The PDK includes the electronics and physical interface to support any vendors’ payload.
Teledyne FLIR Defense, a business of Teledyne Technologies [TDY], is exhibiting the integrated SkyRaiders at the annual Association of the U.S. Army conference in Washington, D.C.
The launcher can support guided and unguided 40mm munitions, Steve Pedrotty, director of U.S. Department of Defense Programs for Teledyne FLIR Defense, told Defense Daily. With wind speed and direction and other known variables, he said, “We have a good idea where an unguided munition” will hit.
The other half of the hunter-killer tandem includes a SkyRaider 80 equipped with the StormCaster-DX payload, which includes a low-size, weight and power laser target designator to guide the Pike munitions to their target and a laser spot tracker that will “detect, decode and geolocate the source or termination of off-board lasers,” Teledyne says on its website.
SkyRaider can fly tethered and untethered.