Hunter
General
The Hunter UAV was originally developed to provide both ground and maritime
forces with near-real-time IMINT within a 200-km direct radius of action,
extendible to 300+ km by using another Hunter as an airborne relay. Hunter
can operate from runways or unimproved air strips (200m x 75m and RATO launch)
to support ground tactical force commanders. System production stopped in
FY 1996 with delivery of the initial 7 systems; one full system supports
the 15th Military Intelligence Battalion (MI Bn) at Ft. Hood, TX, and other
assets support the Joint UAV Training Center at Ft. Huachuca, AZ. Prime
contractor is TRW, San Diego, CA.
| Subsystems 8 Air Vehicles 4 Remote Video Terminals 3 Ground Control/Mission Planning Stations 2 Ground Data Terminals 1 Launch and Recovery System 1 Mobile Maintenance Facility |
 | |||||
| Key Operational Factors Sensors: EO and IR Radius: 267 km (144 nm) Endurance: 11.6 hrs Max Altitude: 4.6 km (15,000 ft) Cruise Speed: >165 km/hr (>89 kts) | ||||||
| Funding (Then-Year $M): • Ops & Maintenance (Army) |
17.4 |
16.2 |
Flight Dataa • Flights / Hours |
56 / 282 |
FY97 558 / 1,973 |
2,152 / 6,607 |
FY 1997 Activities
Hunter continued to support Army and joint exercises and training (see pp.
7–10). In addition, a 4-AV “Hunter Lite” demo system, operated
by contractor personnel, supports payload experiments and other exercises.
Since resuming flight in December 1995, system performance and reliability
have far exceeded original requirements. It has flown over 3,100 hours and
its mishap rate has improved from 5.0 per 1,000 flight hours to 0.5 —
a factor of ten.
Its operational demonstrations of the value of tactical UAVs have elicited strong praise from the user community. During TF XXI alone, for example, Hunters not only flew brigade support missions (as the TUAV surrogate), but also division support missions on request. Some missions combined Joint STARS’ “big picture” surveillance and alerting with the UAV’s capability to validate information and see the detail. Hunters provided adjustment of artillery fire, precise targeting and near-real-time BDA, while maintaining a readiness rate of above 90%. Their ability to keep the enemy force under stress helped to disrupt its operations while enabling the friendly force to accelerate its targeting and decision-making processes.
Other Hunter activities included:
- Support for multiple exercises at Fort Hood, TX, as contributions to evolving concepts and doctrine;
- The loan of four AVs to the Navy for CONOPS development and payload demonstrations at NAS Fallon, NV;
- Target acquisition for an Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and Navy Tomahawk Operational Test launches;
- Laser designation for several Kiowa/ Hellfire live missile shots (all direct hits); and, at NAS Fallon, designation for three Paveway munitions (also all hits); and
- Communications relay for units operating beyond line-of-sight (BLOS).