Canadian Warplanes 8: Schreiner CU162 Vindicator target drone

Schreiner CU162 Vindicator

(DND Photo)

Schreiner CU162 Vindicator target drone.

The Vindicator II was designed as a basic training target for the evaluation and testing of anti-aircraft 20 and 40 mm gunnery and low-speed missile systems, and for training personnel in the use of such weapon systems. It has been used as a target for Blowpipe, Javelin, ADATS, vertically launched Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles, and for Bofors 40 mm, Oto Melara 76 mm, Skyguard 35 mm and FAADS 20 mm gun systems. It can be used for shipboard and land-based operations, and precise flight profiles can be repeated or varied to meet the exact requirements of individual weapons, sensors and/or tracking systems. The system was acquired from Bristol Aerospace in July 1999. The target consists of a bullet-shaped fuselage; low-mounted, low aspect ratio tapered wings with endplate fins; and a ventral landing skid. It features all-composites (glass fibre and epoxy) construction. All major components can be easily removed from the fuselage. The modular construction combined with extensive use of quick- release fittings enables Vindicator to carry a wide range of payloads in its nose, mid and rear fuselage bays. Typical flight profiles include low-altitude attack and crossing pat-terns, low-altitude attack with a pop-up manoeuvre, con-tinuously varying altitude, jinking, or any combination of these. The target is launched from a low-maintenance pneumatic mobile launcher (4.57 m; 15 ft launch stroke). A conventional skid landing or parachute recovery can be commanded either manually or automatically. The fail-safe system automatically shuts down the engine and deploys a parachute in the event of autopilot or sensor failure, and initiates automatic recovery if the command link is lost. After recovery, Vindicator can be readied for a new flight within 30 minutes. (Kestrel Publications)