How low can an unmanned air vehicle fly?

William Dean

Expert InsightsPublished 1990

The flight path of a low-altitude unmanned air vehicle (UAV) has to make a tradeoff between flying low enough to avoid the air defense and high enough to avoid crashing into the ground. To study this issue, a model was constructed to simulate preprogrammed peak-to-peak flight paths over hilly terrain. A commanded altitude was added to all points on the flight paths. The clobber probability was calculated by introducing navigational error, and the intervisibility between a radar site and the UAV was also calculated. The outcomes were disappointing. For any commanded altitude for which clobber was tolerable, the radars on hilltops could see the UAV for well over a minute.

Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web Only
  • Year: 1990
  • Pages: 36
  • Document Number: P-7680-RGS

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Dean, William, How low can an unmanned air vehicle fly? Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1990. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P7680.html.
BibTeX RIS

This publication is part of the RAND paper series. The paper series was a product of RAND from 1948 to 2003 that captured speeches, memorials, and derivative research, usually prepared on authors' own time and meant to be the scholarly or scientific contribution of individual authors to their professional fields. Papers were less formal than reports and did not require rigorous peer review.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.