Sperwer

[tomahawk6]

Canada wants to buy 10 Sperwer's from Denmark that the Danes had taken out of service.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htairfo/articles/20060728.aspx

 

[starlight]

Sure! we'll just buy somone elses junk :

 

[Jake]

This has not proved to be a problem, as the people below, if they are Taliban, either start shooting at the UAV, or try to run away.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htmurph/articles/20060515.aspx

But the Sperwer uses a noisy engine (think lawnmower) and flies low enough to be heard. At first, the Canadian troops thought this was a disadvantage, as it let the Taliban below know they were being watched. But then the Canadians found out that Afghans had learned, when fighting the Russians during the 1980s, to fall flat on the ground when they heard aircraft overhead. From the air, the dirt colored Afghan clothes blended in with the ground, making the prone Afghans invisible.

 

[TangoTwoBravo]

Sperwer is working for us right now in theatre, but of course this place is tough on airframes.  I'm not sure what the future holds, but getting ten airframes could get us through to the next program/mission.

 

[GO!!!]

Yaaaaaaay!

More european cast offs!!

After the resounding success of the last acquisition project involving submarines, I can't see why we don't buy all of our equipment second hand from the EU!!

I mean, just because we have a military hyperpower directly to our south, that leads the world in nearly all types of military technology, and makes repeated offers to sell it to us - does'nt mean that we should do it.

Predators? Baah. These used Danish ones will be just fine. 

 

[TangoTwoBravo]

Don't get me wrong, I would love for us to have our own Predator.  We have Sperwer in theatre, however, and if the price is right we can keep the TUAVs in service until something else (like our own Predator) comes up. 

 

[ark]

I did a quick search to see if it was already posted but found nothing.

OTTAWA (CP) - The Department of National Defence wants to buy 10 used unarmed aerial drones that Denmark found problematic and mothballed last year.

Canada has a sorry history when it comes to buying used military equipment in Europe. The federal government bought leaky used British submarines, one of which caught fire while at sea.

But DND says it has carried out an inspection in Denmark and contracted an Ottawa firm to improve landing accuracy of the drones.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=657ddaf2-e7cf-4faf-b397-1e9d95613ffc&k=39803&p=1

I just hope it wont turn into another piece of junk.

 

[nowhere_man]

At least when they bought the subs the still worked (I suspect the 6 or so years at dock killed those) but why buy something that they know doesn't work from the beginning.

 

[geo]

from what I understand, Canada has gotten it's sperwer drones to work while Denmark didn't.  If we have looked at the product and we can do something with it.... let's......................