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29 Nov 17. Czech military to acquire combat, surveillance drones. The Czech military has unveiled plans to purchase new surveillance and combat drones by 2025 under a program estimated to be worth about 1bn koruna (U.S. $46.5m). Gen. Josef Becvar, the chief of the Czech Republic’s General Staff, told local news agency CTK that the planned acquisitions will include new ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from Boeing’s subsidiary Insitu. The drones are to be purchased in 2019 under a deal worth about 200m koruna. After 2020, the Czech Armed Forces are also to acquire combat UAVs with the aim to increase their air strike capability, according to the general. The country’s armed forces already operate Insitu’s drones. The drones were used by the Czech military contingent in Afghanistan, among others. After years of sluggish spending, the Czech Republic moved to increase its defense expenditure following Russia’s military intervention in eastern Ukraine and its annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014. In 2017, the Czech defense budget is to total more than 52.53bn koruna, a 10 percent increase compared with a year earlier. This makes this year’s Czech military expenditure the largest in absolute numbers since 2007. Next year, Prague is planning to further raise its defense spending to some 57.77bn koruna, according to data from the ministry. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense News)
28 Nov 17. Aeraccess unveils new Hawkeye UAS. French drone manufacturer Aeraccess unveiled its new Hawkeye man-packable micro UAS at the Milipol internal security fair near Paris. According to Shehzaad Callachand, general manager at Aeraccess, the Hawkeye has been designed to carry out ‘over the wall’ reconnaissance in support of special operations forces (SOF). The drone is also capable of conducting perimeter surveillance and monitoring duties. As Callachand detailed to Shephard, the Hawkeye was developed based on feedback from existing military users of small UAS, with Aeraccess trying also to anticipate future operational requirements in this field. The Hawkeye is fitted with a day and a thermal camera, is powered by four electric engines, has an endurance of 25 minutes, a range of 2km and a weight of 600g. It can operate in temperatures ranging from -10°C to +50°C. The system uses a fully secured Mesh network with an encrypted 128 bit datalink for real time video feed.
The Hawkeye can take-off and land automatically and fly autonomously following a pre-planned route with different waypoints.
It is stored folded in a padded case with its ground control station (GCS). The compactness of the UAS and its GCS mean that the case can be transported in a small backpack or a large utility pouch which can be affixed directly on an operator’s body armour for example.
As Callachand highlighted, several orders have already been placed for the new drone, with one unnamed SOF unit having purchased 10 examples. First deliveries are expected to take place in January 2018.
Callachand explained that the Hawkeye’s dual cameras, its small size, light weight and fully encrypted communication network make it unique in its category. Priced at €5,000 ($5,900), the system is likely to spark some interest among a range of forces, the company added.
Aeraccess is also working on integrating its unmanned systems onto a mobile (vehicle) platform, with the support of Pronergy, a French company specialising in system integration, automation and electric energy conversion and storage.
As Florian Eeckeman, sales engineer at Pronergy, explained, work with Aeraccess has focused on developing a storage and protection base for the UAS which can be used statically or aboard a vehicle.
The base is intended to support the autonomous operation of the drone, with minimal human involvement. It can reload the drone’s b