Miraterre Dragon Slayer

The Miraterre Dragon Slayer offers the highest performance of any hand-launched UAV in service. The sleek all-composite airframe provides an exceptional speed range as well as unprecedented durability and reliability - proven to withstand hundreds of flights with near-zero maintenance and no tools. All moving parts including the motor and control surface linkages are fully sealed to prevent dust or water contamination and require no maintenance, cleaning, or adjustment througout the service life. Essentially undetectable by sight or sound at any altitude over 100m the Dragon Slayer is the most covert system available.

The Dragon Slayer provides stable video and precise reliable navigation in winds up to 55 km/h (35 mph), the highest wind tolerance of any hand-launched UAV. The non-inertial autopilot is even capable of adequate stability and navigation in hurricane winds and is not affected by heavy rain or hail. Ground speed monitoring enables the autopilot to automatically increase the cruise speed as needed to maintain headway in winds up to 130 km/h (80 mph). All Launch and landing operations are fully autonomous with a 45 degree climb and a typical landing radius of 25m (80'). Onboard calculation of wind speed and direction allows for safe and precise automatic landings in any weather.

The Dragon Slayer is the only UAV in service requiring no pre-flight calibration or assembly of any type. The plane can go from storage case to flight in under 1 minute! Calibration-free operation allows the system to be booted and launched from a moving vehicle such as a boat, truck or airplane at any speed or in any conditions without the need for a motionless stabilizition period.

Based on the open-source Paparazzi autopilot system, the ground station offers automatically integrated maps and SRTM altitude data, complete in-flight waypoint, speed and altitude manipulation, as well as integrated video display and recording. Automatic location and altitude referencing allows the plane to be deployed in under one minute from anywhere in the world with absolutely no preparation or programming! The standard pre-loaded flight plan references all waypoints and altitudes from the power-on location allowing the plane to be deployed with no preparation and then redirected as needed once airborne. The powerful flight plan language allows advanced operators to create complex paths such as the field survey path, or trigger events at certain stages of flight such as radio/video on/off, motor off, auxilary sensor reading, speed change, etc. The autopilot hardware has available SPI, I2C, and analog I/O to support any additional sensors - integration services are available.

Shown here is the second and final production-prototype, utilizing a separate wing and fuselage structure for development ease and battery access. We are currently in the process of retooling our CNC molds to create a one-piece structure, incorporating a top battery hatch and including all internal component mounting points in the mold for consistent manufacturing precision.

Specifications:

Wingspan: 33cm (13")

Weight: 300g (10.6 oz)

Dash speed: 150 km/h (93 mph)

Cruise speed: 65 km/h (40 mph)

Cruise endurance: 35 minutes

Hand launch video (2.6 meg)