The AeroVironment RQ-14 Dragon Eye is a small reconnaissance

miniature UAV A miniature UAV, small UAV (SUAV), or drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle small enough to be man-portable. The smallest UAVs are called micro air vehicle. Miniature UAVs range from micro air vehicles (MAVs) that can be carried by an infantrym ...

developed by the

Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Located in Washington, DC, it was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, appl ...

and the

Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory The United States Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL) was established in 1995, at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. The organization was originally known as the Commandant's Warfighting Laboratory. The battle lab is part of Combat D ...

for use by the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

. It was designed to provide

reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition Reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition (RSTA) squadrons are a type of unit in the United States Army. These are cavalry squadrons (though in IBCTs they typically contain at least one dismounted infantry troop), and act at the sq ...

(RSTA) for the USMC company, platoon, and squad levels. It can provide this to around in its vicinity.

Design and development

It is a tailless design with a rectangular wing and twin props. It is designed to fit into a backpack, with a weight of and a span of . It can be launched by hand or using a store-bought bungee cord. It also uses a break-apart system to increase durability—parts of the plane break apart instead of shattering and can be reattached later or replaced with new parts. It has a GPS-

INS INS or Ins may refer to: Places * Ins, Switzerland, a municipality * Creech Air Force Base (IATA airport code INS) * Indonesia, ITF and UNDP code INS * INS Park, an entertainment complex in China Biology *'' Ins'', a New World genus of bee flie ...

-based waypoint navigation system. The operator monitors Dragon Eye operation through "video goggles" connected to a laptop computer. The control system weighs about . The Dragon Eye aircraft is used primarily for scouting urban areas, and is especially useful in urban assaults. Its camera, when used with a trained Marine, can be used to spot enemies without alerting them to the UAV's presence. The production contract for Dragon Eye was awarded to

AeroVironment AeroVironment, Inc. is an American Arms industry, defense contractor headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, that designs and manufactures unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Paul MacCready, Paul B. MacCready Jr., a designer of human-powered aircraft, ...

in 2003, and over 1000 aircraft were built before the Marines switched over to another UCAV of AeroVironment ( RQ-11 Raven B) for the remainder of the Dragon Eye production contract. The Dragon Eye has been used in Iraq, post-invasion, from 2003–present.

General characteristics

References

External links

AeroVironment Dragon Eye

- from U.S. Joint Forces Command.
Dragoneye Update

AeroVironment, Inc.
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