About as long as a car with a unit cost of $850,000 the Pioneer is a remarkable UAV design of the 1980s. Slower and more vulnerable by today’s standards the Pioneer is built from a mix of modern and natural materials and the 26 hp (19.4kW) engine carried aloft a 100 pound (45.5kg) payload — either optical sensors or chemical sensors. The nose wheel does not caster so Pioneers were launched by expendable rocket from a rail, or catapult, with landing typically into a net or with the aid of an arrestor cable on a runway. The U.S. Navy originate the RQ-2A Pioneer program but the vehicles soon became operational with the U.S. Marine Corps as well as the U.S. Army. This Pioneer — No. 159 — is historic. It is the UAV to which Iraqi military personnel announced their surrender on Faylaka Island during the first Gulf War — history’s first instance of a military surrender to a robot. The aircraft was being used for damage assessment at the time after a battleship gunnery mission. Launched by rocket assist (shipboard), by catapult, or from a runway, the Pioneer recovers into a net (shipboard) or with arresting gear after flying up to 5 hours with a 75-pound (34 kg) payload. […]
AAI RQ-2A Pioneer — first UAV to accept a military surrender
AAI RQ-2A Pioneer — first UAV to accept a military surrender
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