AeroVironment RQ-11 Raven

RQ-11 Raven
During the Iraq War, a U.S. Army soldier assembles an RQ-11 Raven unmanned aerial vehicle in Taji, Iraq.
Role	Remote controlled UAV
Manufacturer	AeroVironment
First flight	October 2001
Introduction	May 2003
Status	In active service
Primary users	United States Army United States Air Force, United States Marine Corps, United States Special Forces, international land forces
Produced	2004–present
Number built	19,000+ airframes
Unit cost	$173,000 per system (includes 4 UAVs, 2 GCS and spare parts)
Developed from	FQM-151 Pointer

The AeroVironment RQ-11 Raven is a small hand-launched remote-controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (or SUAV) developed for the United States military, but now adopted by the military forces of many other countries.

The RQ-11 Raven was originally introduced as the FQM-151 in 1999, but in 2002 developed into its current form, resembling an enlarged FAI class F1C free flight model aircraft in general appearance. The craft is launched by hand and powered by a pusher configuration electric motor. The plane can fly up to 6.2 miles (10.0 km) at altitudes of appx 500 feet (150 m) above ground level (AGL), and over 15,000 feet (4,600 m) above mean sea level (MSL), at flying speeds of 28–60 mph (45–97 km/h). The U.S. Army deploys the Raven at company-level.

The Raven RQ-11B UAV system is manufactured by AeroVironment. It was the winner of the US Army's SUAV program in 2005, and went into Full-Rate Production (FRP) in 2006. Shortly afterwards, it was also adopted by the US Marines, and the US Air Force for their ongoing FPASS Program. It has also been adopted by the military forces of many other countries (see below). More than 19,000 Raven airframes have been delivered to customers worldwide to date. A new Digital Data Link-enabled version of Raven now in production for US Forces and allies has improved endurance, among many other improvements.

The Raven can be either remotely controlled from the ground station or fly completely autonomous missions using GPS waypoint navigation. The UAV can be ordered to immediately return to its launch point simply by pressing a single command button. Standard mission payloads include CCD color video cameras and an infrared night vision camera.