The Beechcraft MQM-107 Streaker is a reusable,

turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...

powered, target towing drone primarily used by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

and the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

for testing and training. The US Army uses the drone for testing various

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 or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...

systems such as the

FIM-92 Stinger The FIM-92 Stinger is an American man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) that operates as an infrared homing surface-to-air missile (SAM). It can be adapted to fire from a wide variety of ground vehicles, and from helicopters and drones as th ...

and the

MIM-104 Patriot The MIM-104 Patriot is a mobile interceptor missile surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the primary such system used by the United States Army and several allied states. It is manufactured by the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon and derives it ...

. The US Air Force uses them in practice engagements for their

air-to-air missiles An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft (including unmanned aircraft such as cruise missiles). AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid-fuel roc ...

like the

AIM-9 Sidewinder The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a short-range air-to-air missile. Entering service with the United States Navy in 1956 and the Air Force in 1964, the AIM-9 is one of the oldest, cheapest, and most successful air-to-air missiles. Its latest variants rema ...

and the

AIM-120 AMRAAM The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) ( ) is an American Beyond-visual-range missile, beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile capable of all-weather day-and-night operations. It uses active transmit-receive radar guidance ...

Design and development

The MQM-107 was originally developed by

Beech Aircraft Beechcraft is an American brand of civil aviation and Military aircraft, military aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of Beech Aircraft Corporation, an American manufacture ...

for the

United States Army Aviation and Missile Command The United States Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) is a research and development and product management command of the United States Army. It develops, acquires, fields and sustains aviation, missile and unmanned aerial vehicles. AMCOM ...

's 1972 Variable Speed Training Target (VSTT) requirement. It was announced as the winner in 1975, and the Army took delivery of the original model (the MQM-107A) until 1979. Over the next two decades, several updated variants of the Streaker were introduced with different engines and payloads. The MQM-107 is designed as a high-subsonic target drone, featuring a slight sweep in the wings and a centerline mounted turbojet engine. The drone is launched from the ground with a rocket booster accelerating it until the jet engine takes over. It can be recovered by parachute and reused. The Streaker is generally designed to operate as a tow vehicle for missile and gun targets. The aircraft can carry either radar or infrared tow targets for missile training, as well as a square banner with an enhanced radar signature for gunnery training.

Flare A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala, bengalo in several European countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illuminatio ...

and/or

chaff Chaff (; ) is dry, scale-like plant material such as the protective seed casings of cereal grains, the scale-like parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw. Chaff cannot be digested by humans, but it may be fed to livestock, ploughed into soil ...

pods can be carried as well.

Operational history

Production of the MQM-107 ended in 2003, and the current inventory is being phased out in favor of its replacement, the BQM-167 Skeeter. In 2012, it was reported that

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

had acquired several MQM-107D aircraft second-hand from a

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

ern country, and the following year revealed an indigenous target drone type believed to be based on the Streaker.

Variants

;MQM-107A *Original model, powered by a Teledyne CAE J402-CA-700 turbojet. The export version of this model was known as the Model 999, with subdesignations A, D, E, and F for different countries. ;MQM-107B *This variant was introduced in 1982 with the more powerful Microturbo TRI 60-2 turbojet engine, and featured a larger fuselage with a higher payload capability. This model was exported under the Model 999 name again, this time as either the B, L, or H as versions. ;MQM-107C *This variant essentially took the fuselage of the MQM-107B and used the engine from the "A" model. This model was built to exhaust the surplus of the J402-CA-700 engines. ;MQM-107D *This variant was introduced in 1987 with another new engine, the J402-CA-702. In 1989 the engine was replaced with a newer version of Microturbo's TRI 60 engine, the TRI 60-5. ;MQM-107E *This variant, first flown in 1992, was a more heavily redesigned model with modified wing and tail surfaces for higher maneuverability. It could utilize either the latest

Teledyne CAE J402 The Teledyne CAE J402 is an American small turbojet engine. Several variants have been developed to power unmanned air vehicles such as missiles and target drones. Developed in the 1970s for the Harpoon anti-ship missile, the J402 was the first ...

engine, or the same TRI 60-5 engine used in the "D" variant. The

selected

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

to build the "E" model over

Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. Founded in 1922, it merged in 2020 with Unite ...

(who had bought this part of Beech at this point). *Australia has selected the MQM-107E to replace its

GAF Jindivik The GAF Jindivik is a radio-controlled target drone produced by the Australian Government Aircraft Factories (GAF). The name is from an Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal Australian word meaning "the hunted one". Two manually-controlled prototyp ...

target drones. It has been designated as the N28 Kalkara in this role. ;Super-MQM *This variant was an experimental Raytheon version of the MQM-107D with improved thrust and additional payload capabilities. ;Raider *Beech proposed this variant of the MQM-107 at the

Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show (, ''Salon du Bourget'') is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in France. Organized by the French aerospace industry's primary representative body, the ''Groupement des industries frança ...

in 1985. This was to be a tactical

UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...

that utilized active and passive countermeasures and other decoys to confuse and distract enemies in a combat situation.

Operators

Former operators

* (N28 Kalkara AKA MQM-107E) * (999H, 999L) * (MQM-107A) * (MQM-107A) * (MQM-107D) * (999D) * * (999A) * (999F) * (999L) * (999L) * (All Variants)

Specifications (MQM-107B)

References

{{ADF aircraft prefixes MQM-107 1970s United States special-purpose aircraft Target drones of the United States Single-engined jet aircraft Low-wing aircraft Decoy missiles of the United States Aircraft first flown in 1974 Aircraft with auxiliary rocket engines

Design and development

Operational history

Variants

Operators

Former operators

Specifications (MQM-107B)

See also

References