The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence has awarded Lockheed Martin a $5.1 million contract for additional Desert Hawk III unmanned aircraft vehicles. Desert Hawk III’s improved payloads maximize target detection and recognition by providing 360-degree -- daytime and nighttime -- coverage in a common turret package. These latest generation payloads also include a Lockheed Martin-developed navigation system that delivers more refined target position information and superior image stability to the troops. Awarded by the MoD’s Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) organization, the latest contract calls for Lockheed Martin to deliver the Desert Hawk III air vehicles -- which as a result of ongoing obsolescence management and technology advancements in this area feature enhanced 360-degree infrared and 360-degree, 10-times zoom electro optics -- by Fall 2010. "We are extremely pleased with the enhanced capability that these new payloads bring to Desert Hawk III and the British Army," said Duncan Robbins, program manager for mini-UAV systems, UK MOD DE&S. "Desert Hawk’s latest enhancements allow it to operate more effectively in difficult conditions and provide our soldiers with greater situational awareness in a very timely manner." "The battle-proven Desert Hawk III can operate in high winds, extended altitude and extreme temperatures, making it very effective in areas such as Afghanistan," said Mark Swymeler, a vice president for Lockheed Martin’s Ship and Aviation Systems line of business. "Unlike some other UAVs, it is extremely quiet and virtually undetectable beyond 150 meters." Equipped with steerable, plug-and-play imaging payloads, the Desert Hawk has provided the British Army with greater situational awareness capabilities in Afghanistan since 2006. The eight-pound Desert Hawk III features an open architecture environment and consists of a light weight, hand-launched, ruggedized air vehicle with snap-on Plug and PlayloadsTM, a portable ground station and a remote video terminal. The snap-on payload capability allows a single operator to swap sensors on the air vehicle in less than one minute to meet immediate and rapidly changing mission requirements. The Desert Hawk is a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) used for base perimeter protection. It was designed by Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works for the Air Force Force Protection Airborne Surveillance System Program on a quick-reaction contract issued late in the winter of 2002, with the first system delivered in the early summer. It was designed quickly because it leveraged heavily off of technology and design studies developed for the MicroStar MAVs. The program is run by the U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base near Boston, Massachusetts. The Desert Hawk is also used by the 32nd Regiment Royal Artillery of the British Army as a tactical surveillance system, and has seen use in Afghanistan. The Desert Hawk is made mostly of plastic foam, suggesting something like a Nerf toy, and uses an electric motor driving a pusher propeller as a powerplant, making it very quiet. The original Desert Hawk was launched with a bungee cord, carried three small CCD cameras, and had an endurance of about an hour. The Desert Hawk flies mostly under autonomous control, with the "pilot" keeping track of what's going on with a laptop computer. The original Desert Hawk has since been replaced with the more capable, rugged Desert Hawk III. -- August 24, 2010 In other news...