CEi Air Force Sub Scale Target Drone

Challenge: Composite Engineering Inc. (CEi) needed a miniaturized autopilot system for its BQM-167A high-performance, UAS/Target system. The aircraft was selected in 2002 by the U.S. Air Force as the next-generation Air Force Subscale Aerial Target (AFSAT). With an overall length of 20 ft. and a wingspan just short of 11 ft., BQM-167A is capable of speeds in excess of .91 mach, aggressive advanced maneuvers up to 9g's and performance in an altitude envelope from 20 ft. to 50k ft. CEi selected the Athena 111 for the Air Force’s Target UAS.

Solution: We provided CEi with a ruggedized version of our products to be used as an integrated sensor suite for control and navigation. The Athena 111 is a fully integrated, miniaturized, sensor suite with optional flight-control system. Combining integrated inertial/GPS navigation and a complete air data suite with robust, multi-variable control algorithms allows smaller UAS and target drones, such as the BQM-167A Aerial Target System, to accommodate our product.

Results: We provided autopilot sensor solutions for the inaugural test flight of the CEi BQM-167A aerial target drone conducted at Tyndall U.S. Air Force Base near Panama City, FL, in December of 2004. The first flight of the BQM-167A validated the performance of the aircraft and helped move the program to full rate production. We continue to provide our Athena 111 sensor suite to autonomously pilot the target drone, which is now a primary aerial target for training U.S. Air Force fighter pilots and will continue to be in coming years.