Background   —   Canadian Forces  JUSTAS Project  UAV Index

•  JUSTAS Project –  Joint Unmanned Surveillance Target Acquisition System

Canadian Forces  JUSTAS  (HALE/MALE  UAV) Project
The Canadian Forces JUSTAS Project sprang from USAF requests for over-flights of  Canadian territory by Global Hawk strategic surveillance UAVs in 2002. Those flights, as planned, never happened.  But, the CF proceeded with tests of its own using smaller, leased UAVs. Both sets of tests involved maritime surveillance trials but recently the JUSTAS requirement was expanded  to include deployed  battlefield surveillance.

It has yet to be decided whether JUSTAS would  be best met by a High Altitude, Long Endurance  or a  Medium Altitude, Long Endurance UAV.  We review both HALE and MALE UAVs arranged by their type and individual candidate models.

•  HALE  –  High Altitude, Long Endurance  UAVs

•  High Altitude,  Long Endurance  ( HALE )  UAVs
HALE UAVs offer the greatest sensor range simply by their altitude. Such aircraft rely on SATCOM (or satellite communication) datalinks which will create
a major challenge when operating at high latitudes.

• HALE UAV RQ-4 Global Hawk
Global Hawk is the sole realistic HALE candidate. This  is a  large and very expensive UAV system. Euro Hawk is a related system – both USAF RQ-4 and Euro Hawk using airframes supplied by Northrop Grumman.  However,  the EADS electronics skew Euro Hawk towards ELINT likely making the UAV less appealing to the CF.


•  MALE  –  Medium Altitude, Long Endurance  UAVs

•  Medium Altitude, Long Endurance  UAVs
The MALE UAVs came into their own in the opening  moves  of  OP Enduring  Freedom. Formerly  tactical systems  became  compact strategic surveillance machines. Because of these more modest roots (or because the technology is simpler )  there is a larger field of  MALE UAVs to choose from.

•  MALE  UAV   IAI  Malat / EADS  Eagle-1
The CU-160 Eagle is familiar to Canadians as
the MALE UAV “chartered” from IAI/EADS
for the PLIX trials flown from Tofino BC in 2003. IAI Malat announced that it will bid on the JUSTAS requirement and  its Heron-based Eagle-1 is a logical choice.

•  MALE  UAV   EADS EuroMALE / Eagle-2 EADS has continued developing the Eagle on its own  to meet a EuroMALE  requirement. To simply things, we refer to the larger Eagle-2 as the EuroMALE. EADS announced its intention to bid on JUSTAS. So, there may be a competition between 'Eagles'.

•  MALE  UAV   IAI  Malat Heron 1/Heron TP Related to the CU-160 Eagle demonstrator, the IAI Malat Heron 1 has entered CF service as the leased CU-170 for Project Noctua.  The Heron TP is a contender for JUSTAS.

•  MALE  UAV   General Atomics   Predator-B
‘Predators’ is used almost as a generic term for MALE UAV by DND and CF.  General Atomics will compete in JUSTAS but, as we will see, the lineage of their transmogrifying series of Predator UAVs is anything but simple.

• MALE UAV General Atomics Altair/Mariner
One Predator derivative has already seen brief CF service. A long-spanned CU-163 Altair was leased for the 2004 ALIX test. General Atomics regarded this aircraft as a demonstrator for its maritime surveillance Mariner UAV

•  MALE  UAV   Elbit Systems Hermes 900
Elbit is a late-comer to MALE UAVs – being better known for its tactical and  mini UAVs. Elbit’s Hermes 900 MALE UAV design was submitted for JAIC.  Hermes 900 may also be offered on lease for Project Noctua.

•  MALE  UAV   Elbit Systems Hermes 1500
Elbit’s first foray into  MALE  UAVs was the twin-engined Hermes 1500. We had assumed that Elbit had offered their 1500 for JAIC. It’s more likely that they offered the Hermes 900 to DND prior to its official unveiling.