RANGER is 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 ...

system (TUAV) built as a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i joint venture between Swiss aerospace enterprise RUAG Aviation and Israeli aerospace company

Israel Aerospace Industries Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI; ), is Israel's major aerospace and aviation manufacturer, producing aerial and astronautic systems for both military and civilian usage. It has 14,000 employees as of 2021. IAI is state-owned by the government ...

. Its design and some of its technology is based on the ''Scout'' UAV system by

. The RANGER UAV uses a compact

hydraulic Hydraulics () is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counterpart of pneumatics, which concer ...

launcher for takeoff. Due to a modular

payload Payload is the object or the entity that is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of t ...

, the system can be adapted to a wide range of civilian and military missions. A skid-based landing system enables the UAV to land nearly anywhere, on grass or on concrete runways, on snow or ice. According to the manufacturer, RANGER is the only tactical UAV system worldwide certified to fly in civilian airspace as well as over populated areas. The prototype is now at the

Flieger-Flab-Museum The Flieger Flab Museum (English: Swiss Air Force Museum) is located in the Canton of Zurich in Dübendorf on the grounds of Dübendorf Air Base. In the museum, 40 airplanes and helicopters are displayed, with the collection divided into distin ...

in Dübendorf.

Operators

The consortium delivered the first Ranger system to the Swiss Air Force in June 1999 upon successful completion of military exercise conducted by the Swiss Armed Forces. The RANGER system is in service with the

Swiss Air Force The Swiss Air Force (; ; ; ) is the air component of the Swiss Armed Forces, established on 31 July 1914, three days after the outbreak of World War I, as a part of the Swiss Army, army and in October 1936 as an independent service. In peaceti ...

under the designation ''ADS-95''. From 1988 to 1999, an earlier variant called ''ADS-90'' was in use. The Air Force's RANGERs are also used by Swiss

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

for reconnaissance, search and rescue missions. The current 15 ADS-95 will be replaced until 2019 by six

Elbit Hermes 900 The Elbit Systems Hermes 900 ''Kochav'' ("Star") is an Israeli medium-size, multi-payload, medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed for tactical missions. It is a successor to the Hermes 450 series of drones, one o ...

. The last flight of a Swiss Air Force ADS-95 (D-124) was on 27 November 2017. The RANGER is also in service with the

Finnish Defence Forces The Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) (; ) are the military of Finland. The Finnish Defence Forces consist of the Finnish Army, the Finnish Navy, and the Finnish Air Force. In wartime, the Finnish Border Guard becomes part of the Finnish Defence For ...

(FDF).

Former operators

; (28) : The drone were ordered with the ''Armament Programme 1995'' for a budget of CHF 350 million, and they enetered service in 1999. Four systems were supplied, each equipped with: :* 7 UAV :* 2 catapults (electro-hydraulic) :* 2 mobile ground control stations, one of which has an automatic landing system :* 2 mobile data receiving stations :* 1 logistics setIt used to be operated by the

7th Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron (), at

Emmen Air Base Militärflugplatz Emmen (Emmen Military Air Base) is a military airfield of the Swiss Air Force north of Emmen, Switzerland, located northwest of Lucerne. History After several previous projects in the 1920s by the federal government and the ...

. ; (12) : 12 drones were operated by the Finnish Army.

Technical data

Swiss confederation data: *Type: Tactical reconnaissance UAV *Dimension ** Length: ** Height: ** Wingspan: *Weight ** Maximum take-off weight: ** Payload: *Propulsion ** Engine type: 2 cylinder 2 stroke ** performance: *Flight performance ** Max speed: ** Service ceiling: ** Range: ** Endurance: up to 9 hours *Sensors **Reconnaissance altitude: above the ground **Detection range for a main battle tank with a visibility range of : ***TV (day-time): ***IR (night-time): **Data transmission live

External links

The manufacturer's RUAG Ranger website

IAI page about Ranger

IAI Ranger brochure

References

{{IAI aircraft Unmanned aerial vehicles of Switzerland Unmanned aerial vehicles of Israel Swiss military reconnaissance aircraft Ranger Single-engined pusher aircraft Twin-boom aircraft 1990s international military reconnaissance aircraft Aircraft with skid landing gear Israel Aerospace Industries unmanned aerial vehicles