Contributor - UK

David Donald

With its Spy’Ranger 330—for three-hour endurance and 30 km line-of-sight radius—being delivered to the Direction Générale de l’Armament for service with the French army from around the end of the year, Thales (Chalet 265) has launched a larger derivative of the UAV, the Spy’Ranger 550. As its designation suggests, this has a five-hour endurance and effective operational radius of 50 km.

 


Like its smaller cousin, the 25-kg mtow Spy’Ranger 550 is launched from a rail that can be assembled in less than 20 minutes by two personnel. Control can then be undertaken by a single operator using a ruggedized laptop ground station. Power is provided by two batteries as opposed to the single unit in the 330.

 


In battle situations, Spy’Ranger 550 is aimed at brigade-level commands for aiding indirect fire maneuvers. It also has applications for special forces support, border patrol, and critical infrastructure protection. The system allows for missions to be handed over between air vehicles to maintain seamless coverage.

 


Spy’Ranger 550 is equipped with a modern image train, with a 1-kg high-definition electro-optical/infrared sensor turret with near-infrared laser pointer. The three-axis gyro stabilization for the payload is derived from that used in the Damoclès fast-jet targeting pod, and the onboard processing system allows the auto-tracking of moving vehicles.

 


The program to develop the Spy’Ranger 550 began around a year ago, with deliveries due to start to the undisclosed launch customer in October.

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