Lockheed MQM-105 Aquila

Lore & Background

The modern history of the Army's battlefield drone efforts began in 1972, when DARPA began the Remotely Piloted Aerial Observation/Designation System program which included PRAIRIE, Calare, and Aequare. DARPA passed the concept to the Army Aviation Systems Command, which proceeded with a System Technology Demonstrator (STD). In 1975 Lockheed won the STD contract, producing a non-stealthy tailless air vehicle with anhedral wing tips, launched by a pneumatic launcher and recovered in a net. From December 1975 to November 1977 the RPV-STD flew 149 flights. In 1979 Lockheed won the Full Scale Engineering Development contract for the MQM-105 Aquila, which became a stealthy tailless aircraft with a Herbrandson piston engine and a 26-inch pusher propeller. The Westinghouse payload was a television imager/laser designator in a belly turret, intended for use with the M712 Copperhead artillery round and the AGM-114 Hellfire missile. A Ford Aerospace FLIR/laser designator payload began development in 1984. The Aquila was hydraulically launched from a 5-ton truck and recovered by a Dornier-built vertical net on another 5-ton truck. The Ground Control System, also on a 5-ton truck, accommodated three operators. Due to delays in the secure MICNS data link, a Block I configuration flew 17 flights in 1982 and was assigned to an Early Operational Capability unit from July 1983 to July 1984. The complete MQM-105 began contractor flight testing in December 1983. Government Developmental Testing II began in May 1985 but was suspended in September 1985 after failing 21 of 149 performance specifications. A Lockheed Test-Fix-Test effort resolved major problems, and DT IIA ran from February to May 1986. Operational testing ran from October 1986 through March 1987. The program was cancelled in 1987 despite an Army request for production. Residual assets were used in US Army/South Korea war games in 1988.

Reader's Guide

The Aquila program was notable as the first dedicated small battlefield drone for the U.S. Army, but it was plagued by internal and external turmoil. Within a year of the 1979 contract award, Congress zeroed funding, though it was later restored. The Army Aviation Branch was generally hostile to the RPV, fearing it would reduce the need for pilots and compete for funds with the AHIP OH-58D program. Although developed for the Artillery Branch, fielded systems would have fallen under the Intelligence Branch. Lockheed moved development from California to Austin, Texas in 1984, breaking up the contractor team; the Army moved program management from St. Louis to Huntsville, Alabama in 1985, breaking up that team. To save costs, the operational approach shifted from self-contained units to centralized launch and recovery with in-flight hand-offs. The Aquila suffered from the perception that it was 'just a model airplane,' leading to a low-cost airframe with many single-point failure points carrying expensive payloads and data links. Israeli demonstrations of RPVs in the Beqaa Valley in 1982 boosted U.S. support, prompting Army variants like Aquila Lite (ground systems on HMMWVs). Navy and Air Force interest led to congressional proposals for joint development, but the Aquila was allowed to continue as an orphan. Lockheed considered an export variant called Altair, but without government production tooling it was unaffordable. The program's cancellation in 1987 ended the first major U.S. Army battlefield drone effort.

Did You Know?

• The Aquila was recovered by flying automatically into a vertical net mounted on a 5-ton truck.
• The program originally planned for 780 air vehicles and 72 launcher/recovery/GCS combinations.