The IAI Scout (known in Israel under its Hebrew name זהבן - "

Oriole Oriole or Orioles may refer to: Animals * Old World oriole, colorful passerine birds in the family Oriolidae * New World oriole, a group of birds in the family Icteridae Music * The Orioles, an R&B and doo-wop group of the late 1940s and earl ...

") is a reconnaissance

unmanned air vehicle 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 controller ...

developed in Israel in the 1970s by Israel Aircraft Industries as a competitor to the

Tadiran Mastiff The Tadiran Mastiff is a battlefield UAV built by Tadiran Electronic Industries, regarded by some military historians as the world's first modern military drone.The ''Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Political, Social, and Military H ...

. The project was led by Charley Attali, David Harari, and Michael Shefer who were all awarded the 1981 Israel Defense Prize. During the 1970s, the Israeli military was becoming increasingly interested in battlefield UAVs, and in response IAI management finally decided that they were interested in the concept as well. The Scout had a similar configuration as the Mastiff, with a pusher propeller and a twin-boom tail.

Design and development

In 1981, the IAI Scout drone,IAI Scout drone
/ref> was first operated in combat missions by the

South African Defence Force The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence F ...

against Angola during Operation Protea.''Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Robotic Air Warfare 1917-2007'', By Steven Zaloga, Osprey Publishing, 19 July 2011, page 22

Operational history

During the

1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, dubbed Operation Peace for Galilee ( he, מבצע שלום הגליל, or מבצע של"ג ''Mivtsa Shlom HaGalil'' or ''Mivtsa Sheleg'') by the Israeli government, later known in Israel as the Lebanon War or the First L ...

, the Israelis were confronted by Syrian

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

s (SAMs), which were heavily sited in Lebanon's

Bekaa Valley The Beqaa Valley ( ar, links=no, وادي البقاع, ', Lebanese ), also transliterated as Bekaa, Biqâ, and Becaa and known in classical antiquity as Coele-Syria, is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon. It is Lebanon's most important f ...

. All 28 SAM sites in the Bekaa were destroyed, however, partly through the use of Samson decoys to get them to reveal their presence, and partly through reconnaissance information obtained by the Mastiff and Scout UAVs. Israeli battlefield UAVs had proven a great success, and soon came to the attention of the US military, particularly after the American intervention in Lebanon in 1983. This led to the US Navy's request for a battlefield UAV in 1984, and Tadiran and IAI decided, or were told to, join forces to submit a proposal for the American requirement. The result was an IAI division named "Mazlat" (the Hebrew acronym for Miniature UAV), now "Malat" (Hebrew acronym of UAV). The US military is reluctant to buy from foreign sources, so foreign companies usually team up with an American company to invite sales. AAI had already worked with Tadiran to sell the Mastiff in the US, so AAI was a logical choice, and Mazlat and AAI developed the Pioneer, which won the competition. Since then, Malat has developed more advanced battlefield UAVs, and has collaborated on battlefield UAV developments with partners such as AAI. After consolidating production of the Mastiff and Scout, the Malat company continued to sell them in slightly refined versions for over a decade. Both aircraft have fixed landing gear and are generally operated from runways, performing short landings using an arresting-wire hook, though they may be launched using a hydraulic catapult off the back of a truck, and recovered by a net. They both carry imaging sensors in a turret underneath the fuselage. The Mastiff and Scout remained in service with the

Israeli Army The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branch ...

and the

Republic of Singapore Air Force The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) is the Aerial warfare, aerial Military branch, service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) responsible for Air supremacy, controlling and defending the airspace of the country, and providing air ...

until the early 1990s, when they were replaced by the

IAI Searcher The IAI Searcher (also known by the Hebrew name מרומית ''Meyromit'' - "Marsh tern", or officially in Israel as the חוגלה ''Hugla'' - "Alectoris") is a reconnaissance UAV developed in Israel in the 1980s. In the following decade, it re ...

Operators

; *

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense ...

; *

Specifications

References

This article contains material that originally came from the web articl
''Unmanned Aerial Vehicles''
by Greg Goebel, which exists in the Public Domain.

External links

IAI Scout drone
{{IAI aircraft 1970s Israeli military reconnaissance aircraft

Scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement * Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...