Ababil UAV :
Ababil
Manufacturer : Islamic Republic of Iran
Weight : 83 kg
Length : 2.90 m
Operational range : 150 - 240 km
Flight altitude : 14000 feet ( 4200 m )
Speed : 300 km/h
The Ababil (Persian: ابابیل‎, "swallow") is an Iranian-made UAV. Iran has developed a number of variants, including the tactical Ababil-5 for medium range reconnaissance and surveillance, the Ababil-T for short/medium-range attack, and also the Ababil-B and -S .
Performance :
Ababil is a reconnaissance UAV, though it has ability to function as an improvised cruise missile. It has its origins in the need to monitor the Afghan civil war, as well as US fleets in the Persian Gulf during the 90’s. The UAV has a forward-canard configuration which reduces the speed possible before a stall by 30%. More then a hundred Ababils have already been delivered to the armed forces.
The UAV is launched via a pneumatic air launcher mounted on pickups or a special truck integrated with the control system, by far the most common system, or by RATO (rocket assisted take-off). Recovery can either be conventional on a runway using skids, or using a parachute where geography prevents a skid-landing .
All models of the Ababil come available with an automatic guidance system and autopilot . The autopilot is capable of launching the UAV, piloting it to the target zone using INS and GPS and performing the mission parameters, whether it be recon or attack and returning for recovery. Its range for earlier models is 60 km, while the later models that utilizes GPS technology is around 120 km. Movement is not as advanced as it would be with a human operator, with the autopilot only using basic guidance with roll and altitude adjustments, couples with a gyroscope for auto-stabilization. Ground operators are able to override and change the parameters at any time.
It has a maximum operational radius of 150 km and a maximum ceiling of 14000 ft ( 4200 m ). It has the ability to travel at a maximum speed of 300 km/h and is capable of carrying a 45 kg payload . It has a surveillance configuration , carrying a camera and digital communications equipment , but also an attack configuration , carrying a high explosive warhead that would be delivered by the UAV crashing onto a target .
Service :
Israel has said that Hezbollah received at least 12 Ababils before the 2006 Lebanon War, and launched three into Israel during the conflict, though all three were shot down by Israeli jets before inflicting damage.
On March 16, 2009 it was reported that an American F-16 operating in Iraq shot down an Iranian Ababil 3 drone on February 25, 2009 that had been flying through Iraqi airspace for "almost an hour and 10 minutes." The drone crashed about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, 12 miles inside Iraqi territory near the town of Balad Ruz in Diyala province. Officials at Iraq's Defense and Interior ministries suggested that the drone might have been scouting for routes to smuggle Iranian weapons into the country. The New York Times, however, speculated that the drone was monitoring Iranian dissidents in Iraq, such as those at Camp Ashraf, which is located near where the drone crashed. However, Maj. Gen Abdul Aziz Mohammed Jassim, head of military operations at the Iraqi defense ministry stated the drone, "crossed 10km into Iraq, It's most likely that its entrance was a mistake."
The Ababil has also been reported to be in service in Sudan. On March 18, 2012 Sudanese rebels claimed to have downed a government operated Ababil using ground fire. The Sudanese government admitted that a UAV had been lost, though it claimed the crash was due to mechanical failure and not ground fire .
