Pipistrel Surveyor is the special mission programme

for SURVEILLANCE PLATFORMS

which can be piloted, optionally piloted, or prepared to be UAV

Description
Pipistrel aircraft, despite having an engine, were originally designed as gliders; this means they are able to perform many tasks with the engine switched off, completely silent over the target, with a very low IR signature and radar reflection. Because of very low drag and power requirements, they can fly very long distances, have extreme endurances and can reach extreme altitudes.
These advantages have made the Pipistrel Aircraft also a perfect Surveyor Platform, a leading choice all over the world by civil authorities, special agencies, surveillance services and military operations. and anywhere a specially designed, individually customized platform is needed. The Pipistrel Surveyor family is based on the very successful SW airframe, the very same aircraft that NASA awarded first prize in both at the Personal Air Vehicle challenge in 2007 and at the General Aviation Technology challenge in 2008 and the foundation for EASA Type certified SW 121.
The Pipistrel Surveyor can be supplied as manned surveillance aircraft, UAV baseline platform, or an optionally piloted aircraft.

Advantages
Pipistrel Surveyors are ideal for a wide variety of aerial tasks because of their specific design characteristics and they have many advantages:
• They are much less expensive to operate and use unleaded automotive fuel or Avgas
• They can take-off and land on grass or unprepared surfaces, not just hard runways
• They are very quiet, more than 50% quieter than a normal small aircraft
• In the air, they look like an inconspicuous sport/recreational aircraft and they are not treated suspiciously
• When piloted their high wing offer ideal views of the ground through enormous transparent doors
• They can be flown without the doors fitted, making them ideal so for visual aerial survey and hand photography
• They can be equipped with tundra wheels that allow take-off and landing from unprepared surfaces, no airport is needed
• They can be equipped with a ballistic rescue system, which saves the whole aircraft together with the crew if ever needed
• They can carry many different payloads, sensors and surveillance systems
• They can be easily dismantled in less than 15 minutes and stored in a dedicated trailer. Therefore, a hangar is not needed, and a regular vehicle can tow the aircraft in the trailer, no special transport is needed
• Because of the specific design philosophy, they need much less power than other comparable aircraft and consequentially provide extreme flight range even in the standard, basic configuration.

Missions:
The Pipistrel Surveyor offerings can be used for all the following missions, and more:
• Day and Night operations
• Border Surveillance and Control
• Locating poachers and unauthorised activity in National Parks and other wildlife areas
• Homeland Security
• Special Events Security
• All kinds of Surveillance including communications interception
• Moving target detection and tracking
• Traffic Observation
• Convoy protection
• Power/Oil/Pipeline Monitoring
• Fire/ Natural Disaster Management
• Disaster Help – Civilian Support
• Airborne Data Acquisition
• Pollution Control
• Crime prevention
• Wildlife Management
• Forest Protection and Management
• Seaport monitoring
• Maritime/Coastal Patrol
• SAR Operation and Victim discovery
• All kind of aerial photography
• Aerial cartography, 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional
• 3D terrain scanning, mining surveys, excavation quantity calculations etc
• 3D terrain modelling for future development, buildings, roads, railways etc

Pipistrel Platforms are highly efficient low-drag, high-wing composite construction monoplanes with a front-mounted engine, and enhanced aerodynamics, which permit also for unpowered gliding flight with high performance. The high cantilever wing makes the platforms ideal for surveillance. They are proven in the hardest operating conditions all over the world with permitted temperature from -20°C to + 50 °C.
Any Pipistrel platform manned aircraft can be configured as an optionally piloted vehicle (OPV), meaning that the aircraft can be flown by an onboard pilot, should this be desired, or as a pure unmanned aerial system (UAV) i.e. never having a provision for a pilot/person on board. This decision must be made early in the process, as it heavily influences the design of the platform and its features.

Pipistrel can offer further specialised Surveyor customized platforms, adapted to customers special needs with aircraft capable of:
• Flying at extreme altitudes (up to 30,000 feet)
• With extra-long range (up to 4500 km) and
• With endurance at cruise speed up to 30 hours
• Capable of take-off and landing from airfields higher than 4.500 meters
• MTOM up to 900 kg (special designed platforms for even higher requests can be designed and produced for our customers)

To be able to design the Platform according to the most suitable customer’s needs, we may require the following information:
• the requested aircraft certification in the target country for such aircraft and aerial work (type of certification)
• preferred range
• desired cruise speed
• desired top speed
• preferred endurance and at what speed
• desired ceiling
• planned highest landing altitude
• expected highest and lowest temperature for operation (in Celsius)
• Single pilot & operator crew (one set of flight controls) or twin crew (two sets of flight controls) if not UAV
• Preferred placement of the sensors, weights, sizes and required energy consumption.
• Any requested structural modifications and supports (SAR multiband sensors, GSM and satellite tracking systems, lidars and magnetometers)
• Requested modifications of the controls, servos and antennas position, additional power supply if UAV
• Requested modifications of the electric system and if additional power supply needed
• Cockpit avionics requirements IFR, VFR etc
• Special avionics requests (weather radar, lighting radar, long-wave radio, what redundancy is requested etc.)
• Integration of the payloads, flight control system, servos, etc done by Pipistrel or customer

Fleet experience and references:
Almost 200 of our Surveyors are already flying as OPV or UAV in different parts of the world. include:
Amazilia Aerospace GmbH-Germany
ARGUS Aviation Technologies AG-Switzerland
Beijing HXHD Science & Technology Co., Ltd-China
DZYNEtech-USA
Brigata Folgore Esercito Italiano-Italia
Government of Jharkhand-India
IIT Kampur-India
Indian Airforce-India
Indian Navy-India
King Abdullaziz KACST-Saudi Arabia
Quing An-China
Ministry of defense-China
Ministry of Interior-Slovakia
NASA-USA
SOCOM-USA – (more info: https://www.pipistrel-aircraft.com/pipistrels-surveyor-deployed-also-with-us-special-forces/ )
Tata Airspace-India
Technology Service Corp.-USA
US Airforce-USA
Weizhen Aviation Technology-China
Wings For Aid Foundation-Netherlands

Pipistrel has a valid Consent for Production and Trade of Military Weapons and Equipment
from the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Slovenia.

 

Description
Pipistrel aircraft, despite having an engine, were originally designed as gliders; this means they are able to perform many tasks with the engine switched off, completely silent over the target, with a very low IR signature and radar reflection. Because of very low drag and power requirements, they can fly very long distances, have extreme endurances and can reach extreme altitudes.
These advantages have made the Pipistrel Aircraft also a perfect Surveyor Platform, a leading choice all over the world by civil authorities, special agencies, surveillance services and military operations. and anywhere a specially designed, individually customized platform is needed. The Pipistrel Surveyor family is based on the very successful SW airframe, the very same aircraft that NASA awarded first prize in both at the Personal Air Vehicle challenge in 2007 and at the General Aviation Technology challenge in 2008 and the foundation for EASA Type certified SW 121.
The Pipistrel Surveyor can be supplied as manned surveillance aircraft, UAV baseline platform, or an optionally piloted aircraft.

Advantages
Pipistrel Surveyors are ideal for a wide variety of aerial tasks because of their specific design characteristics and they have many advantages:
• They are much less expensive to operate and use unleaded automotive fuel or Avgas
• They can take-off and land on grass or unprepared surfaces, not just hard runways
• They are very quiet, more than 50% quieter than a normal small aircraft
• In the air, they look like an inconspicuous sport/recreational aircraft and they are not treated suspiciously
• When piloted their high wing offer ideal views of the ground through enormous transparent doors
• They can be flown without the doors fitted, making them ideal so for visual aerial survey and hand photography
• They can be equipped with tundra wheels that allow take-off and landing from unprepared surfaces, no airport is needed
• They can be equipped with a ballistic rescue system, which saves the whole aircraft together with the crew if ever needed
• They can carry many different payloads, sensors and surveillance systems
• They can be easily dismantled in less than 15 minutes and stored in a dedicated trailer. Therefore, a hangar is not needed, and a regular vehicle can tow the aircraft in the trailer, no special transport is needed
• Because of the specific design philosophy, they need much less power than other comparable aircraft and consequentially provide extreme flight range even in the standard, basic configuration.

Missions:
The Pipistrel Surveyor offerings can be used for all the following missions, and more:
• Day and Night operations
• Border Surveillance and Control
• Locating poachers and unauthorised activity in National Parks and other wildlife areas
• Homeland Security
• Special Events Security
• All kinds of Surveillance including communications interception
• Moving target detection and tracking
• Traffic Observation
• Convoy protection
• Power/Oil/Pipeline Monitoring
• Fire/ Natural Disaster Management
• Disaster Help – Civilian Support
• Airborne Data Acquisition
• Pollution Control
• Crime prevention
• Wildlife Management
• Forest Protection and Management
• Seaport monitoring
• Maritime/Coastal Patrol
• SAR Operation and Victim discovery
• All kind of aerial photography
• Aerial cartography, 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional
• 3D terrain scanning, mining surveys, excavation quantity calculations etc
• 3D terrain modelling for future development, buildings, roads, railways etc

Pipistrel Platforms are highly efficient low-drag, high-wing composite construction monoplanes with a front-mounted engine, and enhanced aerodynamics, which permit also for unpowered gliding flight with high performance. The high cantilever wing makes the platforms ideal for surveillance. They are proven in the hardest operating conditions all over the world with permitted temperature from -20°C to + 50 °C.
Any Pipistrel platform manned aircraft can be configured as an optionally piloted vehicle (OPV), meaning that the aircraft can be flown by an onboard pilot, should this be desired, or as a pure unmanned aerial system (UAV) i.e. never having a provision for a pilot/person on board. This decision must be made early in the process, as it heavily influences the design of the platform and its features.

Pipistrel can offer further specialised Surveyor customized platforms, adapted to customers special needs with aircraft capable of:
• Flying at extreme altitudes (up to 30,000 feet)
• With extra-long range (up to 4500 km) and
• With endurance at cruise speed up to 30 hours
• Capable of take-off and landing from airfields higher than 4.500 meters
• MTOM up to 900 kg (special designed platforms for even higher requests can be designed and produced for our customers)

To be able to design the Platform according to the most suitable customer’s needs, we may require the following information:
• the requested aircraft certification in the target country for such aircraft and aerial work (type of certification)
• preferred range
• desired cruise speed
• desired top speed
• preferred endurance and at what speed
• desired ceiling
• planned highest landing altitude
• expected highest and lowest temperature for operation (in Celsius)
• Single pilot & operator crew (one set of flight controls) or twin crew (two sets of flight controls) if not UAV
• Preferred placement of the sensors, weights, sizes and required energy consumption.
• Any requested structural modifications and supports (SAR multiband sensors, GSM and satellite tracking systems, lidars and magnetometers)
• Requested modifications of the controls, servos and antennas position, additional power supply if UAV
• Requested modifications of the electric system and if additional power supply needed
• Cockpit avionics requirements IFR, VFR etc
• Special avionics requests (weather radar, lighting radar, long-wave radio, what redundancy is requested etc.)
• Integration of the payloads, flight control system, servos, etc done by Pipistrel or customer

Fleet experience and references:
Almost 200 of our Surveyors are already flying as OPV or UAV in different parts of the world. include:
Amazilia Aerospace GmbH-Germany
ARGUS Aviation Technologies AG-Switzerland
Beijing HXHD Science & Technology Co., Ltd-China
DZYNEtech-USA
Brigata Folgore Esercito Italiano-Italia
Government of Jharkhand-India
IIT Kampur-India
Indian Airforce-India
Indian Navy-India
King Abdullaziz KACST-Saudi Arabia
Quing An-China
Ministry of defense-China
Ministry of Interior-Slovakia
NASA-USA
SOCOM-USA – (more info: https://www.pipistrel-aircraft.com/pipistrels-surveyor-deployed-also-with-us-special-forces/ )
Tata Airspace-India
Technology Service Corp.-USA
US Airforce-USA
Weizhen Aviation Technology-China
Wings For Aid Foundation-Netherlands

Pipistrel has a valid Consent for Production and Trade of Military Weapons and Equipment
from the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Slovenia.

For more infromation please contact: surveyor@pipistrel-aircraft.com

If you are interested in the petrol-engine version of Taurus, please click here: TAURUS M

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