Shadow 200 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ~ A Defend America Photo Essay

Defend America ^ | September 24, 2004

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Shadow 200 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

A Shadow 200 unmanned aerial vehicle lands at Forward Operating Base Warhorse, Baqubah, Iraq, Sept. 22, 2004. The U.S. soldier is assigned to Alpha Company, 101st Military Intelligence Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, which operates and maintains the vehicle. U.S. Army photo by Spc. James B. Smith Jr.

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U.S. Army Sgt. Pablo Villanueva, with Alpha Company, 101st Military Intelligence Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, operates and maintains a Shadow 200 unmanned aerial vehicle at Forward Operating Base Warhorse, Baqubah, Iraq, Sept. 22, 2004. U.S. Army photo by Spc. James B. Smith Jr.

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U.S. Army Spc. James Lindner, from Alpha Company, 101st Military Intelligence Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, fuels a Shadow 200 unmanned aerial vehicle at Forward Operating Base Warhorse, Baqubah, Iraq, Sept. 22, 2004. U.S. Army photo by Spc. James B. Smith Jr.

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U.S. Army Sgt. Francisco Huereque, from Alpha Company, 101st Military Intelligence Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, inspects the launcher for a Shadow 200 unmanned aerial vehicle at Forward Operating Base Warhorse, Baqubah, Iraq, Sept. 22, 2004. U.S. Army photo by Spc. James B. Smith Jr.

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U.S. Army Sgt. Francisco Huereque, Spc. James Lindner and Spc. Jeremy Squirres, from Alpha Company, 101st Military Intelligence Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, conduct a pre-flight inspection for a Shadow 200 unmanned aerial vehicle at Forward Operating Base Warhorse, Baqubah, Iraq, Sept. 22, 2004. U.S. Army photo by Spc. James B. Smith Jr.

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U.S. Army Sgt. Francisco Huereque, Spc. James Lindner and Spc. Jeremy Squirres, from Alpha Company, 101st Military Intelligence Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, load a Shadow 200 unmanned aerial vehicle onto a launcher at Forward Operating Base Warhorse, Baqubah, Iraq, Sept. 22, 2004. U.S. Army photo by Spc. James B. Smith Jr.

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A Shadow 200 unmanned aerial vehicle flies over Forward Operating Base Warhorse, Baqubah, Iraq, Sept. 22, 2004. U.S. Army photo by Spc. James B. Smith Jr.

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A Shadow 200 unmanned aerial vehicle lands at Forward Operating Base Warhorse, Baqubah, Iraq, Sept. 22, 2004. U.S. Army photo by Spc. James B. Smith Jr.

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[Ragtime Cowgirl]

  101^st Military Intelligence Battalion

 

                      

                                3^rd Brigade Combat Team

                                     1^st Infantry Division

                                                    ~*~

                         

Shadow 200 Unmanned  Aerial Vehicle pics, ping!

                         

[Aeronaut]

[battlegearboat]

"Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of man?"

[rpierce]

Man, did my Tactical MI stint get over two decades too soon. That's cool.

It didn't dawn on me until this thread that MI units were controlling these things; never thought much about it.

[FairOpinion]

Neat!

This helps us identify targets, while saving lives of our troops.

[SandRat]

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

I was in the 1st ID at Ft Riley and the 101st was only a block down the street from me there. The Shadow was tested and is built here and the troops operating it are trained here so this is a real big charge. The information the Shadow gets is sent to the systems I, JB, and HJ support is processed on for the bigger picture for the commander to use in making decisions.

WOW! Double WOW!

[Travis McGee]

Most excellent! This tech has come along at a great time for our troops facing urban warfare.

[GBA]

Interesting tool. I wonder what all it can detect and how detectable it is. Can you hear it from say 100 yards away? It looks like it would be fairly easy to knock one down if you saw it.

[Professional Engineer]

Cool RC plane story.

[cake_crumb]

BUMP!

[B4Ranch]

Report: Armed UAV's Fire First Missiles In Combat

[jdluntjr]

Not too easy to knock down. It's small and flies at over 6000-8000 feet (over a mile high)

Here's some more information on the system.

Link to Shadow 200 TUAV info

The Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV) system is designed as a ground maneuver commander's primary day/night reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition, and battle damage assessment system.

The Shadow 200 is a small, lightweight, tactical UAV system. The system is comprised of air vehicles, modular mission payloads, ground control stations, launch and recovery equipment, and communications equipment. It will carry enough supplies and spares for an initial 72 hours of operation. It will be transportable in two high mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWVs) with shelters, and two additional HMMWVs with trailers as troop carriers. >

A single TUAV system includes three Shadow 200 air vehicles with a fourth air vehicle as part of the issued equipment of the maintenance section. The air vehicle is constructed of composite materials, with a wingspan of 12.3 feet, and length of 11.2 feet. Power is provided by a commercial 38-horsepower rotary engine that uses motor gasoline (MOGAS). The payload has a commercially available electro-optic and infrared camera, and communications equipment for command and control and imagery dissemination. Onboard global positioning system instrumentation provides navigation information.

The air vehicle is intended to provide coverage of a brigade area of interest for up to four hours, at 50 kilometers from the launch and recovery site. The maximum range is 125 kilometers (limited by data link capability), and operations are generally conducted from 8,000 to 10,000 feet above ground level during the day and 6,000 to 8,000 feet above ground level at night. The air vehicle uses a pneumatic launcher and is recovered by a tactical automatic landing system without pilot intervention on the runway. The air vehicle is stopped using an arresting hook and cable system.

The TUAV system must provide 12 hours of continuous operations within a 24-hour period. It must be able to surge to 18 hours within a 24-hour period, for up to three consecutive days. The system must be able to keep pace with a brigade's movement, with rapid emplacement/displacement times. An air vehicle may be passed between control stations or launch and recovery stations to facilitate these requirements

[SandRat]

www.fas.org may be able to offer some information on what it can do. Jane's should also have some information.

[SAMWolf]

Big Red One Bump

[Eagle Eye]

"Can you hear it from say 100 yards away?"

Yes.

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[GBA]

"...operations are generally conducted from 8,000 to 10,000 feet above ground level during the day and 6,000 to 8,000 feet above ground level at night."

That's impressive! I was thinking it flew much lower and that it stayed closer to the people flying it. Thanks for the info!

[blackie]

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ~ Bump!

[agincourt1415]

Automatic Landing, I'm impressed.