Canadair CL-89

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CL-89

Type	Surveillance drone
Manufacturer	Canadair
Maiden flight	March 1964

The Canadair CL-89 is a surveillance drone (UAV) produced jointly by Canada, Britain and West Germany in the 1960s. It was later redesigned and improved, and redesignated the CL-289.

1 History
- 1.1 CL-89
- 1.2 CL-289
2 Description
3 Specifications
4 References
5 Related content

[edit] History

[edit] CL-89

In June 1963, a sponsorship by Canada and Britain agreed to have Canadair design, evaluate and test the CL-89 drone. The concept had been developed at Canadair from the CL-85, a study for the carriage of dispatches. West Germany later joined the group, and although the USA was invited to join, they declined.

The first, less than successful flight was made at Yuma, Arizona in March 1964. The British wanted changes in the system (consisting of the drone, the launcher, the retrieval equipment and the support) to be "Soldier Proof". They sent an army officer to Canadair and with his help set up a maintenance advisory group which had excellent results. The first complete CL-89 system was supplied to the West Germans in 1969. During the 1970s, Both France and Italy joined the British and West Germans in operating the CL-89. NATO gave the system the designation AN/USD-501. The system was intended for intelligence collecting at a divisional level.

[edit] CL-289

In November 1987, an agreement was signed between Canada, West Germany and France for the production of the CL-289 system. The design of this was started in 1974. It was a larger drone with better range and payload than the CL-89. It was intended to obtain Corps level intelligence for the armies of NATO. Although similar in appearance to the CL-89, many changes in design were necessary. The CL-289 entered service in November 1990 and was designated AN/USD-502.

[edit] Description

Although both drones had the appearance of missiles, they flew like aircraft. They had four large surfaces at the rear of the fuselage with balance control provided by small stabilizers in the nose. Take-off was achieved by a booster rocket, which was jettisoned when flight speed was attained. A small turbojet then took over for the rest of the flight

The flight pattern was pre-set and allowed for the flight to the target area, a run while the cameras or sensors recorded, and the return to the launch site. On arrival at this calculated position, the motor cut and a drogue parachute was deployed. This slowed the drone down sufficiently to alter its attitude and allowing a parachute to be released from the underside of the drone causing it to invert. Before reaching the ground a pair of pneumatic landing bags were released from the top of the drone (now facing the ground). The retrieval crew would then remove the cameras etc., and return the drone to be ready for its next flight. A camera or sensor, dependent on the mission, could be fitted to the CL-89, and multiple units to the CL-289.

[edit] Specifications

	CL-89	CL-289
Length (with booster)	12 ft 3 in (3.7 m)	16 ft 4 in (4.98 m)
Length (without booster)	8 ft 6½ in (2.6 m)	11 ft 6½ in (3.63 m)
Main Span	3 ft 1 in (0.94 m)	4 ft 4 in (1.32 m)
Foreplane Span	1 ft 7 in (0.48 m)	n.a.
Body Diameter	1 ft 1 in (0.33 m)	1 ft 3 in (0.38 m)
Launch Weight (No booster)	238 lb (108 kg)	classified
Dry Weight	172 lb (78.2 kg)	classified
Launch rocket	PERME wingtail (5000 lb)	Bristol Aerospace (7200 lb)
Flight turbojet	Williams WIT2-6 (125 lb)	ICHD T-117 (540 lb)
Max speed	460 mph (741 km/h)	high sub-sonic
Max Range	74 miles (120 km)	classified (> 100 miles)