An artist's conception of the Golden Eagle Heavy Strike in action. (Steadicopter)
Steadicopter unveiled a missile-armed version of its Golden Eagle rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on 14 October at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) 2024 conference in Washington, DC.
The Golden Eagle can now be armed with a single Rafael Spike Short Range (SR) or Long Range 2 (LR2) missile encapsulated beneath the helicopter's fuselage. The Spike SR has a range of 2.5 km, according to Steadicopter, while the larger LR2 version can reach up to 5.5 km.
The goal of introducing the Heavy Strike version, Steadicopter CEO Itai Toren told Janes on 16 October, is to enable users to strike targets from a stand-off distance without giving away their position. The Spike missiles are fire and forget, requiring no external guidance after initial lock on, cued by an electro-optical sensor housed in the front of the missile. A new missile can be loaded in a few minutes, Toren said.
The Spike missile and its enclosing canister impact the Golden Eagle's endurance, Toren said. If loaded with the Spike SR, the UAV can fly for roughly one hour, and with the LR2, for around 45 minutes. The Spike SR weighs 8.6 kg, according to Janes Weapons: Infantry database, while the LR2 weighs 13 kg, according to Rafael.
Integration of the missile took little time, Toren said, although he largely declined to detail integration and testing. Toren categorised the UAV and missile combination as having reached Technical Readiness Level 8 or completion of testing and demonstrations without yet becoming operational.
The missile-armed Golden Eagle could become operational βas soon as somebody would buy itβ, Toren said, who declined to discuss potential customers.
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