1970's UAV/Drones, Teledyne Ryan


1976
Teledyne Ryan UAV Drone RPV Model 262 Manta Ray

Chainsaw engine. TV and radar.  Internal guidance with remote pilot corrections.
Carrier surveillance drone program. Believed to be the scale prototype of a larger manned version called TR-3B, Black Ray.
They received a patent for a larger twin engine version.  They were then bought out by Northrop Grumman.

Ryan Firebee that made 68 missions over Vietnam before loss




Recovery by HH-3

and this is in the 1970s, just think of shit thats out now

Lightning Bug

All things considered, UAVs have stayed pretty crude for the most part in the last 100 years 

Good stuff.. My dad worked on those programs while at Ryan.



ETA: the Firebee was a reworked target drone

The guy in the building next to us has the largest military drone collection in the world.

He has everything from WWII target drones to supersonic drones they were flying in the 80's.

He was the first person to weaponize a drone in Vietnam. He has many crazy stories.


I'll snap some pictures tomorrow.

Not a Ryan product and from before the 1970s....  but I'm a fan of the QH-50 "DASH" or "Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter".  

QH-50 History

First flight in 1959 and still in use today as a "no kill" target for missile testing.

Northrop loved flying wings before Teledyne was playing with them.  If anything the UAV is a nephew of the YB-35.

  Grandson of Horten 229.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Firebee

From the above link:
Five BQM-34-53 Extended Range Firebees were also used to lay chaff corridors during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The drones were modernized by Northrop Grumman in a fast-response program earlier in the year, being fitted with chaff dispensers and other improvements. They had GPS-based programmable waypoint guidance systems, but it is unclear if they were added by the upgrade program. They were delivered for service in charcoal-black colors.There was only one DC-130 drone launcher aircraft left in the US military's inventory at the time, and since it was grounded due to a malfunction, two Firebees were ground-launched on the first night of the operation. The other three were air-launched by the DC-130 on the second night of the operation. They flew until they ran out of fuel and crashed. Iraqi TV took footage of the wrecks and broadcast it, saying they were wrecks of piloted aircraft.



I've never heard of 'chaff corridors'.  Can anyone explain this?  I understand what chaff is, but it was my understanding that it is only really useful now to interfere with the proximity fuse on missiles, but not the SAM radar itself.  Am I wrong in my understanding?  Or were the Iraqi radars so old that it would still be effective?


-K

Used to blind and distract enemy AAA/radar.

I recall the flying peanut from pics in the 80s.

Wow, pretty good for the 70's.

I've been working on a commercial version of the Desert Hawk I, but I've a ways to go with fitment of all the electronics and nav equipment.  Was hoping to have it ready for this flying season, but it's taking longer than expected.

Desert Hawk I circa 2007:


Commercial version, X-UAV Talon:

WRONG.

Jack Northrop was playing with flying wings before America was involved in WWII.  His X215-H first flew in 1929 and his N1-M first flew in the summer of 1941, six months before Pearl Harbor.

A photo of the N-1M in flight in 1941.

1937

Very cool information.

The SAAF ussd Drones in Angola against Cubans forces

OST