SAGEM Sperwer

The SAGEM Sperwer (Pronounced Spehr-wuhr, Dutch for Sparrowhawk) is an unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by the French firm SAGEM. The aircraft is piloted remotely and can cruise at altitudes of over 16,000 feet for as long as five hours. It can send back images of targets up to 150 kilometers away from its ground control station.

Sperwer
Sperwer B on its launch rail
Role Reconnaissance aircraft/UAV
Manufacturer SAGEM
Primary users French Army
Canadian Armed Forces (Retired)

Operational history

The Sperwer is currently in service with the French Army (61e régiment d'artillerie), the Royal Netherlands Air Force, Swedish Air Force, United States Air National Guard, Hellenic Army (Greece) with the Netherlands in the process of removing them from front line use.

Canadian Armed Forces operated the Sperwer in Afghanistan between 2003 and its last mission on 18 April 2009 when it was replaced with the Israeli built IAI Heron.[1]

The Royal Danish Army also bought Sperwer, but a series of problems forced the Ministry of Defence to cancel the programme and sell the remainder to Canada. As well the Danish Army no longer operate any aircraft and there are no plans for UAVs by the Royal Danish Air Force. Canada itself removed the Sperwers from front-line use in 2009, while the Netherlands was planning to phase its Sperwer drones out of front line use in March 2009 in favor of rented UAVs from Israel's Aeronautics Defense Systems Ltd.

Operators
 Canada
Canadian Armed Forces. Designated CU-161 in service; retired.
 Denmark
Danish Army. Programme cancelled.
 France
French Army. In service with three more ordered and an option on another five, all with enhanced sensors.[2]
 Greece
Hellenic Army. In service.
 Netherlands
Royal Netherlands Air Force. Retired.
 Sweden
Swedish Army. Designated UAV01 Ugglan (the Owl) in service; retired.
 United States
Air National Guard.

Aircraft on display

Six of the retired Sperwers can be found in Canadian museums:[3]

Two of the retired Sperwers can be found in Dutch museums:

See also

Related lists

References
  1. COPA Flight 8 (June 2009). "Canadian Forces Briefing on UAVs". Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  2. French Army to procure more Sperwer drones from Sagem
  3. "Canada Aviation and Space Museum". Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  4. "AirForce Museum Society of Alberta". Facebook. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  5. "Transcript and Help | Canadian Army | National Defence and the Canadian Forces". 10 June 2011. Archived from the original on 10 June 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  6. Pitre, Jean-Guy (September 2010). "Sperwer Photo". Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2010.
  7. "Sperwer". Greenwood Military Aviation Museum. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  8. "Onbemand verkenningsvliegtuig Short Range Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (SRTUAV) SAGEM Sperwer V60303 AV-061 registratie Z061 bijnaam 'Anjing Nica'". Nationaal Militair Museum (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  9. "Nieuwe aanwinst voor het artilleriemuseum". Botter courant (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 October 2018.
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