Desert Hawk

Definition/Scope: The Desert Hawk is a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) used for base perimeter protection. It is made mostly of plastic foam, suggesting something like a Nerf toy, and uses an electric motor driving a pusher propeller as a powerplant, making it very quiet. It is launched with a bungee cord, carries three small CCD cameras, has an endurance of about an hour. It flies mostly under autonomous control, with the "pilot" keeping track of what’s going on with a laptop computer. The Desert Hawk itself has a wingspan of fifty-two inches and measures thirty-four inches from nose to tail. Payload and the flight duration requirements set the size. Desert Hawk has since been replaced with the more capable, rugged Desert Hawk III.

Used For:

Protection WFF

Broader Terms:

Army aircraft
fixed-site security
Force Protection Airborne Surveillance System
perimeter security
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Unmanned Aircraft System
Unmanned Aircraft System (by name)

Narrower Terms:

base defense
border defense

Related Terms:

Battle Damage Assessment
Force Protection
Hunter
ISR
Micro Air Vehicle
Raven
RQ-14 Dragon Eye
Shadow
Sky Warrior