Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

[Matt Wiser]

So what was that Soviet UAV picked up over Western Europe in the 1970s that was mistaken for a MiG-25R recon Foxbat Yastreb is the name I heard, IIRC.

[WallShadow]

Hang gliders and winch launched gliders could also be useful for recon, although they tend to need a pilot to avoid crashing...

Are you sure you don't mean _delay_ crashing
Sail planes with proper cammy would be a great,l really stealthy recon asset--just don't get noticed, don't get fired at, and especially don't get hit.
How about a towed steerable parachute connected to its tow vehicle by a releasable cable. You'd just need a sufficiently straight stretch of road to build up speed and height.
If a winch itself is too slow, why not a drop-weight catapult, using the winch to hoist the counterweight back up again

[Mousekill]

The Whole System

UAVs, even the smaller ones, aren't just planes, they are a "system". This includes the control terminals/shelters, launchers, landing gear and the air vehicle. In most cases, the system won't work if any of these components are missing.

It would be necessary to decide how much the system should be broken into its components. For example, the RQ7 Shadow has a static line which is basically two lines strung between two drum brakes, and it has anothe gizmo that is set up beside the landing strip that tracks and guides the plane in to land. Would each piece need to be a distinct gizmo in the game or could they be combined into a more generic landing system

[HorseSoldier]

I think EMP would hammer a lot of UAV systems pretty hard, and make them generally pretty scarce. (That and the fact that they seem to crash a lot in my personal experience with them . . .)

[Mousekill]

UAVs

They do crash a lot. I walked away from two crashes myself as the camera guy (dumb UAV humor). The Shadow is the system I'm familar with, so it's the only one I can say much about with confidence. The plane's structure is fairly simple. Whenver it's possible, crashed planes are recovered and the parts sent back to the factory for reuse. Even the brand new planes are Frankenstiens and include pieces from crashed planes. The system also has a pretty significant team of contractors that deploys at various levels with the system. It doesn't seem too far fetched that if a large number of systems were deployed, these contractors and the enlisted UAV mechanics could canibalize broken and crashed planes to keep a dwindling but sizable fleet of them working

The payloads are a different story. They are sophisticated and delicate and don't seem to survive crashes much. Over time, I could see these payloads becoming very scarce and users having to Yankee Engineer new payloads. One example might be a simple digital camera that pops pictures at a given interval, storing pictures onto its internal memory card that doesn't transmit imagery back to the operator and must be physically recovered from the plane (which could make for a cool mission - recovering imagery from an air vehicle that crashed somewhere inconvenient).

I honestly don't know what an EMP would do them. The engines are pretty basic and don't have much in the way of electronics that I'm aware of. The engine isn't started by a guy yelling contact and spinning the prop, but it's very close. The control surfaces are moved by servos. Electronics handle input from the control shelter, handle the planes automatic functions, and transmit the imagery. The plane uses GPS for navigation and to transmit imagery, so the satellites being slagged would pose a problem. The control shelters are just an excuse to stuff lots computers into the back of a Humvee, so that could be a problem. We were never nuked and the GPS always worked.

[Mousekill]

First Attempt at a Shadow UAV

My very rough first go Shadow 200 UAV

Shadow 200B (RQ-7B) Air Vehicle (AV)
Price: $150,000 (S/-)
Fuel Type: G, AvG
Load: 36kg
Veh WT: 150kg (without payload)
Crew:2
Minimum Landing/Takeoff Zone: Take Off: hydraulic launcher, Landing: 300m primitive runway
Travel Speed: 664 (but max range from control station is 125km)
Fuel Capacity: 80L
Fuel Consumption: 10L
Mnt: 10
Notes: The plane can be broken down for transport.

I fudged on the numbers a bit to keep it in the air for 8 hours, guessed on a few other things based on available information, and dropped a few of the newer features since they would likely have been ahead of the games tech.


Typical Payload:
Price: $ 200,000 (S/-)
Weight: 36kg
Features: Daylight Camera with Zoom, FLIR with Zoom
Both allow size of target to be estimated and give a grid for image crosshairs. It also allows AV to act as a forward observer for artillery.
Notes: I dropped some of the newer payload features since they seem like they would have been ahead of the technology of the day to make small enough to fit in payload (finger of God, laser painter, etc)

Ground Control Station (GCS) a specialized HMMWV
Price $80,000 (R/-)
Fuel Type: D, G, A
Load: 0.5
Weight: 2.75
Crew: 2
Mnt: 4
Travel Move: 215/85
Combat Move: 50/20
Fuel: 90
Fuel Cons: 30
Combat Statistics:
Unarmored Vehicle
Config: Veh
Susp: W(2)
HF:1, HS:1, HR:1
Notes: 10KW generator that operates electronics, lights and air conditioning (required to keep computers cool) in the back. The generator runs off the vehicles fuel tank and uses 7 liters of fuel per period, just like a standard 10KW generator. It has controls for an Air Vehicle Operator (AVO) and Mission Payload Operator (MPO the camera guy), and tons on communications/networking capabilities.

I upped cost and the maintenance a bit for all the electronics.


Air Vehicle Transport (AVT)
Price: $40,000 (R/-)
Specially designed HMMWV to carry 3 AVs, 240 liters of fuel, fuel pumping gear, and landing/arresting gear)
Mnt: 2 (nothing too special about it)
Travel Move: 180/60
Combat Move: 40/10
Fuel: 90
Fuel Cons: 30
Combat Statistics:
Unarmored Vehicle
Config: Veh
Susp: W(2)
HF:1, HS:1, HR:1
Notes: I dropped the speeds because it handles like a brick.


Launcher:
Price: $10,000 (R/-)
Load: 0.1
Veh Wt: 0.5 tons
Mnt: 1
Requires Compressed Nitrogen to fire. Folds into a trailer of similar proportions to a one-ton cargo trailer. The plane cannot launch without this launcher.

UAV platoons typically have a maintenance shop in the back of a HMMWV. Id say treat this as a HMMWV that is maybe a bit pricier to cover the shop compartment.

Landing/Arresting Gear: Includes a Tactical Automated Landing System (TALS), arresting gear (static lines) and nets for the end of the runway.
Cost: $10,000 (R/-)
Weight: 400KG
Notes: If missing the TALS, the plane cannot be landed. If the arresting gear is missing, the plane can land, but wont stop and will likely crash. If missing the net, if there is a mishap on landing and the plane misses the arresting gear, the net wont be there to stop the plane and the plane will likely crash. This is typically carried in the AVT.

Antennas: Each GCS needs a set of antennas to operate the plane.
Cost: $10,000 (R/-)
The GCS cannot control a plane or receive video if these antennas are missing. This is typically carried in the GCS.


I mostly made these times up from guesses of averages.

Lets say that from the time a UAV platoon occupies an area, it takes 22 people of that platoon 30 minutes crew to 1 hour to set up for operations (emplace the GCS, emplace the launcher, set up landing gear, assemble planes, etc.) For every 2 missing, it adds 10% to setup time.

It takes 30 minutes to preflight a plane. In a panic, the preflight can be skipped, but there is a decent probability things wont go well. It takes at least 3 to launch a plane. The crew chief is always with the plane and the launcher, and the operator is always in the GCS or at the PGCS. The third can either be an assistant to the crew chief or the camera operator.

Malfunctions
1. If the preflight was skipped, make all rolls against double the wear value.
2. Roll for a potential breakdown to plane during preflight. If a breakdown occurs:
a. Roll 1d10. If greater than the wear level, the malfunction is minor and only adds 1d20 minutes to preflight.
b. If less than wear level, the plane breaks down and requires maintenance (it can either be replaced with another plane, or the mission can be scrapped)
3. Roll for potential breakdowns during flight, but roll for every period in flight. A minor break down means the plane must return to base. A major break down and the plane crashes.
4. When plane lands, roll for breakdown as if the plane had received double Preventative maintenance that week. If a minor breakdown occurs, the plane has a hard landing and suffers a minor breakdown. If the plane has a major breakdown, it misses the landing gear and hits the net. If there is no net, it slings off the end of the runway crashes.

I tried to keep go #1 simple so. . . .

Things I don't like:
1. The Shadow is a system, and malfunctions are often caused by the GCS, launcher or the landing gear and not the plane, so it seems that somehome both the ground systems and the air systems need to be considered.
2. Since flying a UAV is boring in the real world, and likely to cause a coma in a gaming world, it seems like this system might still be a bit complex since it will likely be supporting player operations instead of the players operating the planes.

Things missing
1. Salvaging crashed planes and assembling new planes from the surviving parts.
2. Engine noise: The lower the plane is, the better the image resolution. But, the lower the plane is, the more likely it is to be heard.
3. Jury rigging payloads when no "store bought" payloads are available.
4. Does UAV operation require a new skill Should UAV operator be a possible MOS If so, only enlisted guys can fly UAV's, and the skill would be more about getting good imagery and reacting to breakdowns than with fancy flying (the Shadow doesn't allow fancy flying as a way to "enlisted guy" proof them).

[StainlessSteelCynic]

So what was that Soviet UAV picked up over Western Europe in the 1970s that was mistaken for a MiG-25R recon Foxbat Yastreb is the name I heard, IIRC.

Yastreb would be correct, it's Russian for hawk or falcon if I remember right.
It was the Tupolev Tu-123, introduced into service in the mid-1960s and based in the Western military districts.
I'm at work at the moment so unfortunately there's only a few pages on the Tu-123 I can access but there's a number of websites and even YouTube videos if you do a search for Tu-123.
As a drone, it's a massive aircraft, have a look at the third website listed below for some pics of it on it's carrier truck.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-123

http://www.kamov.net/russian-aircraft/tupolev-tu-123/

http://kevsaviationpics.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/tupolev-tu-123-yastreb.html