![]() ![]() So, the intelligence report about MQM-107D making its way into the totalitarian state was rather odd, to say the least. Pyongyang has so far built unmanned aerial vehicles in the past based on Chinese designs to spy over South Korea, which feature highly explosive armaments and has GPS-waypoint navigational capability. It added that the North’s military has placed explosives on drones in several tests but has yet to master the technology. “North Korea recently bought several US MQM-107D Streakers from a Middle Eastern nation that appears to be Syria, and is developing unmanned attack aircraft based on them,” a South Korean news agency, Yonhap, reported. However, reports began circulating in 2012 that a few of these RPVs had made their way to Syria, then sold to North Korea. As a result, the current inventory is scheduled for phase-out in favor of Composite Engineering’s BQM-167 Skeeter as its replacement. The production continued until 2003, when the program ended. Other variants include Super-MQM, an experimental Raytheon version of the MQM-107D, and Raider, a proposed tactical unmanned aircraft capable of active and passive countermeasures. Australia was among the first country to operate the RPV besides the US, and they chose the “E” variant as a replacement to its GAF Jindivik (“Hunted Ones”) target drones, designating it as N28 Kalkara. However, instead of Raytheon (who at this point bought Beech Aircraft), the Army selected British manufacturer BAE Systems. Then, in the early 1990s, the MQM-107E variant was developed, which received an overhaul in its wing and maneuverability, and can employ either the Teledyne CAE J402 engine or the “D” variant’s engine. In 1989, the engine of the “D” variant was replaced with a Microturbo TRI 60-5. An MQM-107C, which featured the fuselage of MQM-107B, was built to exhaust the J402-CA-700 engine surplus, as well as with MQM-107D instead equipped with J402-CA-702. Once in the air, the aircraft will be powered by a Microturbo TRI 60-2 turbojet (MQM-107B) of 831-pound thrust. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)Ī manning crew will launch the platform on the ground with solid fuel boosters that quickly accelerate it to roughly 250 mph. ![]() An F-16 Fighting Falcon flying in formation with an MQM-107E. A parachute will aid the aircraft’s landing recovery at the end of the mission. Its trajectory could be programmed ahead of the launch or changed during flight by a ground controller via a radio link. The MQM-107 Streaker can endure a two-hour and eighteen-minute flight at a maximum speed of 575 mph and reach a ceiling of 40,000 feet. It boasted about eighteen feet in length and a wingspan of more than nine feet that stood at approximately four feet. Spicing things up, it could also drop chaff and flares to deceive interceptor crews. Powered By A Microturbo EngineĪccording to the US Air Force National Museum, the Streaker was a remotely piloted vehicle (RPV) used to simulate the characteristics of potential enemy targets, including the heat and radar returns. This includes Australia, Egypt, Iran, South Korea, and Turkey, to name a few. The remote aircraft was updated several times over the next two decades, with different engines and payloads, and used by various operators besides the US. The Air Force also used the target towing drone for testing some of its air-to-air missiles, including the short-range AIM-9 Sidewinder and the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). (Image source: USAF National Museum)īy 1975, the Army awarded “The Striker” the contract subsequently used the platform to test systems like the man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS), FIM-92 Stinger, and the SAM system, MIM-104 Patriot, until 1979. The Army had been attempting “to meet the 1972 Variable Speed Training Target (VSTT) requirement for a reusable, turbojet-powered, target towing drone capable of testing surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems,” and the MQM-107A fit the bill. Reusable, Target Towing Droneīeech Aircraft (now Raytheon Aerospace) developed the earlier version of the MQM-107 in the early 1970s for the US Army Aviation and Missile Command. ![]() Unmanned drones have played a significant role in the US military and have been a game changer on the battlefield since their inception, and Beechcraft’s MQM-107 Streaker was among the first to take flight. ![]()
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