ADF-SERIALS
Australian & New Zealand Military Aircraft Serials & History

ARMY & DSTO A50 Aerosonde Mk.2

Aerosonde Image Gallery

The Australian designed and made Aerosonde UAV was first employed by the Defence Science & Technology Organsiation (DSTO) in its NERVANA tactical UAV experimentation programme for various UAV and Payload trials.

During August 2003, four Aerosonde UAVs were used for the Operation ANODE peace restoration mission to the Solomon Islands and this was the first use of drone technology by the Australian Army.

The deployed UAV's were drawn from the DSTO fleet for use in day and night surveillance missions, as well as acting as communications relays for ground-based forces in remote areas of the islands.

The Army UAV detachment was based at Henderson Airfield near Honiara on Guadalcanal Island with four aircraft which were operated by a fifteen person detachment consisting of personnel from Brisbane-based 131 Surveillance and Target Acquisition Battery and 161 Recce Sqn. In addition, three RAAF Image Analysts are also deployed along with two scientists from DSTO and specialists from Aerosonde.

This was the first ever Australian operational deployment of UAVs and proved extremely useful in gaining experience in the operation and deployment of reconnaissance UAV capabilities.

The Aerosonde drones were able to produce useful imagery of some of the more remote areas and less accessible villages of the Solomons as well as having a psychological deterrent effect.

This was also the first time that Aerosonde drones were used in an operational military role by any operator worldwide.

The author of this page is Brendan Cowan

Source: www.defence.gov.au, http://www.spacewar.com/reports/AAI_Corp_Acquires_Leading_Australian_UAV_Developer_Aerosonde.html , http://www.defence-today.com.au/australian-army-builds-drone-air-force , http://australianaviation.com.au/2018/04/unmanned-systems-finally-taking-off-in-adf-service/ , https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/aerosonde-in-military-role-169418/ , https://nautilus.org/publications/books/australian-forces-abroad/solomon-islands/unmanned-aerial-vehicles-uavs/ ,

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Updated 08 February 2019

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