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CF Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle  (UAV)  Project  —  Background

Droning On  —  the CF’s  On-Again,  Off-Again  Quest  for UAVs is Born Again Drones — or remotely-piloted aircraft, uninhabited aerial vehicles ... call them what you will – have been relatively common for some time. [1] Many Canadians are not aware that Canadair (now part of Bombardier) had been a leader in this technology for forty years.  In part, this is because there has been little meaningful support for the fruits of Canadair’s labours from government or the military. But, the remotely- piloted  reconnaissance aircraft has recently come into its own.  After several false starts, in June 2003 the CF finally issued a requirement for UAVs of its own.  The winning aircraft must be capable of operating between  -40° and +50° and have a minimum endurance of four hours flying at 4000m.

The Canadian Armed Forces had been among the first to field reconnaissance drones designed  for the purpose. But,  when the Mulroney government slashed the defence budget in 1990, this lead was lost.  The Tories’ timing was ironic –  one year later, the Gulf  War would draw attention to the potential of  UAVs again. Tentative steps were taken by the CF  over the next decade  to keep a hand in with UAVs (including a joint study by McDonald Dettwiler and Canadair/Bombardier in the late 1990s) but little real progress was made toward a CF UAV until 2002.

Canadian Forces  Experimentation Centre’s  “Uninhabited  Aerial  Vehicle”  Trials  at  CFB Suffield The  CFEC  began  “Concept Development and Experimentation” on UAVs at  CFB Suffield, AB  in April 2002.  Three different models of aircraft were leased  from their manufacturers for the duration of  the trials. [2] The three types tested also represented distinct classes of UAV.  Smallest of  the three was the hand-launched Pointer (above, right) designed  to provide the army with  “eyes to see over the next hill”.  More sophisticated was  the light airplane-sized  I-GNAT (left) which requires a conventional runway. And, perhaps, the most  radical  was the Canadian-built CL-327 Guardian. This Bombardier product  with its contra-rotating propellers and hour-glass shape has, naturally, been dubbed the ‘Peanut’.

[1] Official Transport Canada terminology has been changed from ‘remotely-piloted aircraft’ to ‘unmanned aerial vehicle’, bringing  it in line with the CF’s ‘Unmanned Aerial Vehicle’ project.  However, for its Suffield trials, the CF preferred to use Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle. Although it retains the UAV acronym, the new gender-neutral term seems to offer no descriptive advantage over remotely-piloted aircraft. [2] No CF designations were announced for these leased aircraft (and perhaps none were ever applied) but there are gaps in the official CF designation system. It is possible that “CU-” designations were applied. The unassigned types numbers are 157-160, 164-166 and 168-187.