The Business November 17, 2002
THE MUAV: SIX INCHES LONG AND DEADLY
Thomas Withington
Ffft oR the six men in the car, death came out of a silent sky, their vehicle seemingly exploding of its own accord as it drove through the province of Marib, east of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
All of the car's passengers, including Qaed Senyan al Harthi, also known as Abu Ali, were wanted men. The CIA believed that he was a senior figure in Al-Qaeda, suspecting his involvement in the bombing attack of the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen two years ago in which 17 US sailors died.
Two weeks ago the CIA got their man and five others; the agency admitted responsibility for the killings. This was no ordinary assassination - no snipers on rooftops or poisoned umbrellas. Instead, the car was destroyed by an Uninhabited Air Vehicle, or Uav. Known as "drones", these small, pilot-less planes, such as the RQ1 Predator (pictured above), can be remote-controlled by operators on the ground, hundreds of miles away. It is thought that the Predator, which conducted the Yemeni attack, was launched by US forces in Djibouti.
These aircraft can carry potent Hellfire anti-armour missiles, which would reduce a car to a twisted wreck in a fraction of a second. This is not the first time that Uavs have been used in combat.
They earned their spurs during impressive service in Afghanistan. President Bush was able to watch the operation in real time from the White House as a drone relayed television pictures back as it flew over the mountainous Afghan terrain and hit its target with deadly accuracy.
These aircraft are comparable in size to a light plane. Predators are 27 feet long - and that is their main problem. Their size makes them highly visible and therefore vulnerable. They are designed for surveillance, reconnaissance and covert missions.
The American and British military now have something much smaller in mind. Most six-inch-long aircraft tend to arrive in small boxes and are glued together by model aeroplane enthusiasts. The military have found an application for a plane smaller than the average Airfix kit.
Micro Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (Muavs) are designed to be used by the individual soldier to conduct reconnaissance and surveillance or to detect chemical or biological weapons. In order to qualify as a Muav, the US Defence Airborne Reconnaissance Office (a key organisation in Muav development) insists that the aircraft must be less than six inches in length, height and wing-span. They must carry a "miniaturised payload", a tiny version of reconnaissance cameras, sensors or other military equipment; they must be simple to operate and they must carry a communications link for the transmission of information.
They are designed to be used by a soldier in the field who can conduct reconnaissance simply by unpacking a Muav from his kit, throwing it into the air by hand, then flying it by remote control over the surrounding area, while watching the television pictures that the Muav sends back to see if the enemy is nearby.
This may sound like science fiction; it is fast becoming science fact. The smallest military air vehicle to be developed is the Sender, an uninhabited aerial vehicle (Uav) with a wingspan of four feet and a weight of 4.5 kilograms. It is operated by the US Naval Research Laboratory, and despite its small size, it boasts a range of almost 100 miles.
It may soon be used as a reconnaissance aircraft for US warships and it can be configured to undertake several different missions, from directing anti-ship missiles to searching for hostile vessels.
The US Department of Defence (DoD) sees Muavs as essential. In 1996, the US Defence Science Board conducted a study on Tactics and Technology For 21st Century Warfighting. This emphasised the importance of good reconnaissance for troops on the ground. Muavs were identified as a key part of this vision.
It is not just the United States which is leading the Muav field. BAE Systems, in conjunction with Lockheed Martin, is developing Microstar, which weighs under one-third of a kilogram and can fly at altitudes of up to 300ft. A small electric propeller motor can generate speeds over 30mph. It will be able to stay aloft for over 20 minutes. Microstar will carry miniature TV cameras, communications relays or chemical/biological weapons sensors.
According to BAE Systems, Microstar is designed for individual soldiers to operate. All they will need to do is "unhook it from their web belt, create a flight plan using a digital map, hit the load button and hand launch" - almost as easy as throwing a paper aeroplane, a BAE Systems' executive explains.
Information collected by the Muav's TV cameras and sensors is then relayed back to the soldier in "real time". The soldier can then fly the aircraft back and repack it for use on another occasion.
BAE Systems boasts that Microstar will be able to see large vehicles, obstacles, troop formations and even individual snipers. It will be able to map the size, shape and location of a chemical/biological weapon's toxic clouds whilst tracking its movement.
The advantage of the Muav is that they are small, making them almost invisible at altitudes of 100ft; and they are quiet, indeed almost inaudible.
Professor David Jenn, of the US Naval Postgraduate School, says: "These things are very small, they're covert and they're very difficult to shoot down."
According to defence expert John Pike, from the Washington DC-based think-tank globalsecurity.org, the greatest use of a Muav will be in urban areas. "The most obvious opportunity would be military operations in urbanised terrain. They might be useful for seeing what is around the next corner or on top of the roof," he says.
MUAVs could also be flown into buildings, providing invaluable intelligence for elite special forces in situations like the recent Moscow theatre siege.
It is not just the military that will benefit; there could be several important civilian spin-offs. BAE Systems believes that Microstar will have significant commercial applications, including traffic monitoring and border surveillance.
A Muav with cameras and sophisticated sensors could be ideal for detecting trapped people in burning buildings.
But how distant is the technology? It is closer than we think. Microstar took a test-flight in 2000, and according to Pike, we could see Muavs in service possibly by the end of the decade.
© Copyright 2002 Sunday Business Group
