Canadia Press, OTTAWA: An unmanned surveillance aircraft that could one day be used to patrol Canada's sprawling coastline will start zooming through the skies over the Atlantic and the Arctic within days.
The gangly Altair, which is about the size of a fighter jet, will be tested by the military in a series of missions scheduled to begin Sunday.
Gen. Ray Henault, chief of defence staff, said the $4.5 million experiment is part of a bid to modernize the Canadian military.
“We need to implement these new technologies that are out there,” Henault said Thursday as he briefed reporters in Ottawa.
The aircraft is expected take off from Goose Bay in central Labrador, and make its way up the coast toward Baffin Island.
Technicians in Ottawa will remotely control the awkward-looking aircraft as it flies at an altitude of between 15,000 and 42,000 feet.
The flight trials will be watched by the U.S. navy and the federal Fisheries Department, among others.
The Altair, which has a wingspan of about 26 metres and is 11 metres long, will be carrying a sophisticated sensor system to relay information back to Ottawa to help officials study the effectiveness of such long-distance missions.
The military has rented the Altair, designed by California-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., with no obligation to buy.
Unmanned aircraft such as the Altair have been promoted as a cheaper and more efficient way to provide maritime security.
The military is looking for an aircraft that can fly 50 hours before needing to refuel.
That's equivalent to eight regular flights for the manned Aurora surveillance aircraft, currently used for coastal patrol by the Canadian military.
However, officials say the unmanned aircraft would not be used to replace any existing aircraft.
“The (Altair) is . . . seen really a complement,” Henault said.
The Altair is very different from the six, unmanned aircraft the Canadian military used in Afghanistan, said Lt. Col. Steve Newton.
Called technical UAVs, all six were damaged after crashes or rough landings.
Compared with the Altair, the UAVs -short for uninhabited aerial vehicle -have more limited communications capabilities and are much smaller, with a 3.5-metre wingspan.
The Altair is a version of the Predator unmanned aircraft, which the U.S. army has used over Iraq.
The Altair will take part in three exercises, including Operation Narwhal, a large, ongoing deployment in the Arctic, as well as an exercise involving the troops at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in New Brunswick.
The missions will be mostly over water and sparsely populated areas.
There are backup systems in place, Newton said, arguing that the chances of something going wrong were, “like one in a million.”
The military says that if it decides to pursue unmanned aircraft it could have some of the planes on patrol within five years.
