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BG Archive — CF Mini-UAV candidates — Elbit Systems Skylark

Update Elbit's Skylark has been chosen as the CU-168. It's not clear whether this is the outcome of DND's 29 Nov 2005 announcement of a $10M contest for 10 mini UAVs or whether this and the IOR order for 5 mini UAVs (plus options on 5 more) are simply one and the same.

Setting up Ground Control Station for Skylark UAV - Elbit Systems Tactical mini UAV - the Skylark drone - Elbit Systems To a Skylark – "HAIL to thee, blithe spirit! ..."
The CF began taking delivery of a small number of Elbit Systems Skylark mini-UAVs in March of 2006. Five of these Israeli mini-drones are being delivered immediately with a possible further five to follow. In a sense, the hand-launched Skylark UAV is a follow-on from the FQM-151A Pointer, being the same man-packed and laptop-operated concept for a mini-UAV. Unlike the larger CU-167 Silver Fox , the Skylarks will be fully operational.

Hand-launching the Skylark mini-UAV - Elbit Systems Elbit mini GCS for Skylark - Stephen Priestley Five Skylarks [1] will be ready for the August 2006 CF rotation to Kandahar. The primary role will be tactical close-range surveillance and reconnaissance missions (filling a gap between the Army's Coyote recce vehicle and the CU- Skylark camera imagery - Elbit Systems 161 Sperwer TUAV now operated by the Air Force). Skylark has an endurance of two hours, and carries a gimballed, gyro- stabilized daylight video camera or infra- red for night operations. Control is via a mini ground-control station with real-time video and telemetry data transmission. If a continuous picture is required, the operator simply 'looks' at the target [2] while the Skylark circles maintaining continuous coverage.

Assembling Skylark in the field - Elbit Systems Assembly CF Skylark at Suffield - CF/DND photo The Skylark itself is electrically-powered making it extremely quiet. The airframe is minimalist in the extreme – just a sensor pod slung below a tubular fuselage. Both wings and fuselage boom (of composite construction) break down for packing. A reasonable endurance (two hours with a radius of 5-10 km) is ensured by light weight (about 5.5 kg). Top speed is 74 km/h, wingspan is 2.4m. These Skylarks resulted from a Nov. 2005 IOR but the Skylark was also a candidate for further CF mini UAV order for 10 drones to be operational by the fall of 2008. Press announcements that the Skylark had been chosen again may have been premature or confused with the earlier IOR purchase. [3]

[1] The CF has options on the other five Skylark systems. Along with hand-launching, the Skylark can also employ a smaller version of the launch rail used by Sperwer and Silver Fox. (The tube-launched UAV by Rafael confusingly called Skylark is now renamed Skylite.)
[2] This 'follow camera' mode allows optical tracking of a designated point while the Skylark mini-UAV flies a "software-defined pattern".
[3] PWGSC insists that this project is "still at the requirements stage". If so, DND may be waiting for results of the Kandahar deployment. Also see: Thales Canada press release on the Skylark mini UAV entitled Thales' UAV Selected by the Department of National Defence.