Canadair CL-89
Canadair Surveillance Drones - History
In June 1963, a sponsorship by Canada & Britain agreed to have Canadair design, evaluate & test the CL-89 pilotless 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 og the drone, the launcher, the retrieval equipment & 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 & Italy joined the British & West Gernas 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.
In November 1987, an agreement was signed between Canada, West Germany & 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 & 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 & was desighated AN/USD-502.
Description
Although both drones had the appearance of missiles, they flew like aircraft. They had four large surfaces at the rear end of the fuselage with balance control given by small stabilizers in the nose. Take off was achieved by a booster rocket, which was jettisoned when flight speed was attained. A small turbo jet 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 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, dependant on the mission, could be fitted to the CL-89, and multiple units to the CL-289.
Specification
| CL-89 | CL-289 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Launch rocket | PERME wingtail (5000 lb) | Bristol Areospace (7200 lb) | ||||
| Flight turbo jet | Williams WIT2- 6 (125 lb) | ICHD T-117 (540 lb) | ||||
| Span | 3' 1" (0.94 m) | 4' 4" (0.1.32 m) | ||||
| Foreplane Span | 1' 7" (0.48 m) | n.a. | ||||
| Length (with booster) | 12' 3" (3.7 m) | 16' 4" (4.98 m) | ||||
| Length (without booster) | 8' 6½” ((2.6 m) | 11' 6½’ (3.63 m) | ||||
| Body Diameter | 1' 1" (0.33 m) | 1' 3" (0.38 m) | ||||
| Launch Wt (No booster) | 238 lb (108 kg) | classified | ||||
| Dry Wt | 172 lb (78.2 kg) | classified | ||||
| Max Range | 74 miles (120 km) | classified (> 100 miles) | Max speed | 460 mph (741 km/h) | high sub-sonic |
|}
Reference
Personal experience in Canadair Design Office 1952-75
“Canadair - The First 50 Years” by Picker &Milberry - pub CANAV - ISBN 0 921022 07 7