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Taranis
BAE Systems, though its Autonomous Systems and Future Capability business unit based in Lancashire, UK, is a leader in the development of Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) demonstrators to enhance military air future capability in the UK.
Rapid engineering techniques and an agile approach to project management has enabled Autonomous Systems and Future Capability to produce a development programme which has resulted in six different platforms flying in the last three years.
Intelligent autonomy, payload and platform systems integration and networked capability all contribute to the ability of our products and services to deliver against operational need – robustly and reliably.
Key focus areas are:
- the development of sovereign UCAV ability for the UK armed forces
- the development of fully autonomous utility UAV systems
Sovereign UCAV ability for the UK
BAE Systems is the industry lead and prime contractor for a project to develop a world-class UAV Technology Demonstrator called Taranis.
This £124m four year programme is part of the UK Government’s Strategic Unmanned Air Vehicle Experiment (SUAVE) and will result in a UCAV demonstrator with fully integrated autonomous systems and low observable features.
The project is being led from within the Autonomous Systems and Future Capability business unit at Warton, Lancashire with support from other BAE Systems teams in the UK and in Australia. Industry partners on this MoD led project include Rolls-Royce; QinetiQ and Smiths Aerospace. The Taranis Technology Demonstrator Programme is aimed at helping inform the UK MoD of the potential of UAVs within the armed forces mix.
Fully autonomous utility UAV systems
The utility UAV systems being developed by Autonomous Systems and Future Capability are low-cost high-endurance systems providing solutions to a wide-range of operational requirements.
HERTI is one of these – part of a family of fully autonomous unmanned air vehicles (UAV) - HERTI was the result of a programme that from concept to first flight took only 7 months.
Initially a concept demonstrator, HERTI's first flight was achieved in December 2004 using common systems, powerplants and ground stations with other BAE Systems UAV programmes. The HERTI system builds on previous major achievements from Kestrel, Raven and Corax autonomous systems development programmes.
Following successful trials in both the UK and in Australia the HERTI system is now being assessed by a wide range of potential users. It is also, through an initiative called Project Morrigan, helping UK armed forces make informed decisions about the integration of UAV systems into the battlespace.
HERTI’s low-cost and long endurance, coupled with its reliability and image capturing capabilities make it ideally suited to reconnaissance and surveillance in both the military and civil sectors.
