The Firebee High Performance Aerial Target System UAS
After World War II the United
States military had undoubtedly accepted the need to drastically improve its
aerial combat operations. This ultimately caused the increased demand for newer
aerial target drones. In 1948, the USAF issued a challenge to design an
unmanned jet propulsion aircraft that can reach subsonic speeds. This drone
aircraft would be used as a target for ground and air live fire drills. The
Ryan Aeronautical Company was announced the winner in 1951, and began mass
production of the UAV Q-2A Firebee (Estrella Warbirds Museum, 2017) .
The Firebee has undergone many
upgrades, mostly in the thrust and avionics categories. As fighter aircraft advanced
within the USAF and shortly after the US Navy, the Firebee would soon be
out-flown and of no use. The first Q-2A model was a simple drone using the
Continental J69-T-19 turbojet engine until 1970. The Firebee was refitted with
General Electric J85-GE-7 turbojet engines, improving maximum thrust (2,450 Lbs.)
and speed (600 Kts.) and was designated the MQM-34D. Other variations including
the BQM-34A were highly sought after by the Navy and required upgraded avionics
and retrofitted engines namely the Continental J69-T-41A to compete with the
Navy’s F/A-18 Hornet (Estrella Warbirds Museum, 2017) .
During the Vietnam War the Firebee
UAVs flew more than 34,000 covert surveillance missions. This was due to the
extremely reliable and successful flight record estimated at 83% (PBS/NOVA,
2017) .
The Firebee did see a halt in
production between 1982-1986 with the only remaining active BQM-34A version.
However, now under new ownership as the Northrop Grumman Corporation since
1999, the Firebee is a vital part of the UASF and US Navy live fire drills.
Today, the Firebee soars through the sky nearing 0.97 Mach. Equipped with the
latest in GPS technology, an advanced microprocessor flight control system
capable of fully autonomous waypoint navigation from both ground or air launch
configurations. The Firebee Q-2A was designed as an aerial target training
system for the UASF in the 1950’s. Now, just over six decades later, the
Firebee BQM-34 has become the target of choice for the USAF, Navy, and Army (Northrop
Grumman, 2017) .
Estrella Warbirds Museum. (2017, March 26). Retrieved from Estrella Warbirds
Museum: http://www.ewarbirds.org/aircraft/bqm34sfirebee.shtml
Northrop Grumman. (2017, March 26). Retrieved from Northrop Grumman:
http://www.northropgrumman.com/Capabilities/BQM34Firebee/Documents/Firebee-DS-05.pdf
PBS/NOVA.
(2017, March 26). Retrieved from PBS/NOVA:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/spiesfly/uavs_09.html
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