KZO (''Kleinflugzeug für Zielortung'', German for ''small aircraft for target acquisition'') is an

unmanned aerial vehicle 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 Dron ...

(UAV) with stealth characteristics manufactured by

Airbus Defence and Space Airbus Defence and Space is a division of Airbus SE. Formed in 2014 in the restructuring of European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS), Airbus SE comprises the former Airbus Military, Astrium, and divisions. Contributing 21% of Airbus reven ...

Airborne Solutions GmbH of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Airbus Defence and Space Airborne Solutions GmbH is a joint venture of

and

Rheinmetall Rheinmetall AG () is a German automotive and arms manufacturer, headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was promoted to the DAX, Germany's leading stock market index, in March 2023. It is the largest German and fifth largest Europe ...

. A KZO system consists of 10 UAVs and 2 ground units, consisting of one control station, one radio, one launch, one maintenance vehicle with a refuelling facility for the UAVs and one recovery vehicle. The UAV is launched with a booster rocket directly out of its container. Landing is done with a

parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

. The KZO's main objective is to locate mobile threats and provide target locations for artillery. KZO replaced the

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

's other main UAV, Drohne CL 289. The Taifun attack drone was a concept of an armed variant fitted with an intelligent millimeter-wave radar seeker that perform

search and destroy Seek and destroy (also known as search and destroy, or S&D) is a military strategy which consists of inserting infantry forces into hostile territory and directing them to search and then attack enemy targets before immediately withdrawing. Fi ...

attacks autonomously. It destroys its target with a hollow-charge warhead. However, the German Army decided against this concept in favor of the IAI Harop. Two electronic warfare variants have also been developed as the Mücke ("mosquito") and the Fledermaus ("bat"). The initial system has been sold to China.

Features

* Wingspan: 3.42m * Length: 2.28m * Body diameter: 0.36m * Noise-reduced two-stroke engine driving 2 blade propeller * Cruise speed: 220 km/h * Endurance: 4 hours * Sensor: stabilized

forward looking infrared Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras, typically used on military and civilian aircraft, use a thermographic camera that senses infrared radiation. The sensors installed in forward-looking infrared cameras, as well as those of other thermal ...

* Digital data recorder for 10 minutes of video data * Real-time datalink * Navigation: inertial, location via datalink, additionally GPS (not needed for operation) * Reduced visual, acoustic, radar and infrared signature (

stealth technology Stealth technology, also termed low observable technology (LO technology), is a sub-discipline of military tactics and passive and active electronic countermeasures. The term covers a range of military technology, methods used to make personnel ...

)

References

@ Airbus Defence and Space Airbus Defence and Space, KZO Unmanned military aircraft of Germany {{Germany-mil-stub