RU-38 Twin Condor
| RU-38 Twin Condor | |
|---|---|
| Role | Covert reconnaissance aircraft |
| National origin | United States |
| Manufacturer | Schweizer Aircraft Corporation |
| Designer | Leslie Schweizer |
| First flight | 31 May 1995 |
| Introduction | May 1997 |
| Status | In production |
| Primary users |
US Coast Guard US Dept of Justice |
| Produced | RU-38A 1995-1997 RU-38B 2004-2005 |
| Number built | RU-38A - 2 RU-38B - 3 |
| Developed from | RG-8A |
The Schweizer RU-38 Twin Condor is a two or three-seat, fixed gear, low wing, twin boom covert reconnaissance aircraft.
RU-38 is the US military designation for the aircraft, indicating Utility, Reconnaissance. The Schweizer company model number is Schweizer SA 2-38A Condor and, in its three-seat configuration, Schweizer SA 3-38A Condor
Based on the Schweizer SGM 2-37 motor glider, a total of five RU-38s were produced between 1995 and 2005. The aircraft remains in production by Sikorsky Aircraft after acquiring Schweizer.
The development of the Schweizer SGM 2-37 motor glider for training use at the United States Air Force Academy led to two reconnaissance versions of that design, carrying the company model numbers SA 2-37A and SA 2-37B. In Central Intelligence Agency, US Army and US Coast Guard service these were designated RG-8A and B. The RG-8s were employed in border security and surveillance missions.
In the mid-1990s the Coast Guard decided that the aircraft would be more useful if their capabilities were improved to include night operations by the addition of more mission sensor equipment. Discussions with Schweizer Aircraft resulted in a plan to upgrade two RG-8As and build one new aircraft to provide a total of three.
The RU-38 was intended to fulfill both the low altitude, quiet, over water/hostile terrain reconnaissance role and also the high altitude standoff surveillance role.
The design missions for the RU-23A were:
In converting to the new RU-38A configuration, the conventional RG-8A airframe was greatly modified by:
The resulting aircraft bears little resemblance to the original TG-8. Installation of the twin-boom pods permits the carriage of more sensors. The left-hand pod houses an AN/APN-215(V) color multi-function X-band sea search radar with mapping capabilities. The right-hand pod houses the AN/AAQ-15 forward looking infrared (FLIR) and Low-Light TV enhanced vision systems.
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