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QinetiQ Banshee

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BTT3 Banshee
A Banshee onboard HMS Prince of Wales
Role Target Drone
National origin United Kingdom
Manufacturer Meggitt Defence Systems
First flight 1983
Introduction 1984
Status In service
Primary user Worldwide
Number built Over 8000[1]
Developed into SAGEM Crecerelle

The BTT3 Banshee, formerly the Target Technology Banshee & Meggitt Banshee, is a British target drone developed in the 1980s for air defence systems training.

Design and development

The Banshee was developed by Target Technology Ltd.[2] The company had been specialising in lightweight engines for drones and had developed its own design in 1983.[3]

Banshee is built mostly out of composite material (Kevlar and glass-reinforced plastic) with a tailless delta wing planform. The first models used a 26 hp 342 cc Normalair-Garrett two-cylinder two-stroke driving a pusher propeller. Performance was 35 to 185 knots (65 to 343 km/h; 40 to 213 mph) with an endurance from one to three hours. Flight control is by two elevons.

Later models used Norton P73 wankel engines[4][5]

Operational history

Banshee entered service with the British Army in the mid-1980s as an aerial target for the Short Blowpipe and Javelin shoulder-launched missiles.[6]

Banshee has been deployed in over 40 Countries.[7] It has been tested against Blowpipe, Chaparral, Crotale, Javelin, Phalanx, Rapier, Hisar (including Hisar O+ and Siper), Sea Sparrow, QRSAM, Akash SAM (including Akash-NG) and Barak 8 SAM systems.[8]

Russo-Ukrainian War

In May 2023, the UK reportedly supplied Ukraine with Banshees which had been modified as kamikaze drones.[9] The remains of a Banshee were discovered, equipped with a 7 kg warhead, by Russians in Donetsk in February 2024.[10][11] The drone is either a Meggitt Banshee drone or a copy of one. Jet powered, it has a 7 kg explosive warhead and a range of 100 kilometres or 62 miles.[12]

Operators

Variants

  • Banshee 300 - (1988)
  • Banshee 400 - Reconnaissance (2001)
  • Banshee 500 - First model to include all epoxy based composite construction
  • Banshee 600 - Evolution of the 500 variant
  • Banshee Jet 40 - Single turbine
  • Banshee Jet 80 - Twin turbine
  • Banshee Whirlwind

Specifications Meggitt BTT-3 Banshee

Banshee top-view silhouette

Data from Meggitt

General characteristics

  • Crew: None
  • Length: 2.84 m (9 ft 4 in)
  • Wingspan: 2.49 m (8 ft 2 in)
  • Height: 0.86 m (2 ft 10 in)
  • Empty weight: 39 kg (85 lb)
  • Gross weight: 73 kg (160 lb)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Norton P73 Wankel rotary engine, 28 kW (38 hp)

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 200 km/h (120 mph, 110 kn)
  • Endurance: 1 hour 15 minutes
  • Service ceiling: 7,000 m (23,000 ft)

On Display

Meggitt Banshee target drone at the Science Museum, London (2017)

See also

Related development

References

  1. ^ "Banshee". Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  2. ^ "Target Drones". Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  3. ^ New UK target RPV in pdfarchive at flightglobal.com
  4. ^ "air miles | air force | british airways | 1988 | 1940 | Flight Archive". www.flightglobal.com. Archived from the original on 6 November 2012.
  5. ^ UK funding for rotary engine in pdfarchive at flightglobal.com
  6. ^ "1986 | 1877 | Flight Archive". www.flightglobal.com. Archived from the original on 6 November 2012.
  7. ^ "Banshee". Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  8. ^ "Meggitt BTT-3 Banshee". Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  9. ^ "UK to provide Ukraine with long-range kamikaze drones". Militarnyi. 15 May 2023. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  10. ^ "Russians discovered the remains of a kamikaze drone similar to the British Banshee". Militarynyi. 19 February 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  11. ^ "First Sighting Of British Banshee Jet-Powered Drone In Ukraine". Covert Shores. 19 February 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  12. ^ THOMAS NEWDICK (19 September 2024). "British Target Drones Appear To Have Been Turned Into Strike Weapons In Ukraine". TWZ. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  13. ^ Ellis, Ken (2016). Wrecks & Relics (25th ed.). Crecy. p. 162. ISBN 978-191080-9037.
  14. ^ "CNAM - Banshee 300, 3088". www.cnam.org.uk. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
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