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German Army brings Mikado to London
Tuesday, 11 September, 2007
The German Army (Heer) is becoming increasingly involved in out-of-area operations and has now fielded a complete family of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to provide all units with an enhanced reconnaissance capability. The smallest of these is the Mikado mini-UAV, which is deployed by German Army infantry at the section level to give a real-time surveillance capability, especially in urban operations.
The German Army has procured an initial batch of 30 Mikado systems, which have been developed by German company AirRobot. Mikado has a maximum range of 500m and can operate in wind speeds up to 4m/s. It has a payload of 200g and a maximum endurance of about 20 minutes. The mini-UAV can be fitted with a variety of sensors that can be rapidly changed in the field, including daylight colour video camera, dawn/ low light black and white camera, still camera and an infrared camera. Mikado is controlled from a small handset, with images being transmitted to the operator’s special glasses or to a video display.
It is powered by four electronically operated rotors with electronic flight stabilisation control and has virtually no audible signature. It takes off and lands vertically and if radio communication is lost or the batteries are running low, it will land autonomously. Other UAVs deployed by the German Army include the Kzo (maximum range 70km), Luna (maximum range 65km) and the Aladin (maximum range 5km). The Kzo is the most sophisticated and transmits data in real time to enable high-value targets to be engaged by artillery assets.
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