MBDA Spectre

MBDA Ghost History

The future of close air support (CAS), especially in urban environments, appears to be increasingly dependent on unmanned/autonomous vehicles working in tandem with ground forces. For missile development company MBDA, that means advancing its unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) "Phantom" design for exactly this purpose - covering glide over the battlefield such as enemy elements, electronic warfare (EW), communications Relay and like.

The Spectre platform itself is based on a tilt-wing UAV design capable of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) maneuvers, enabling operations in tight spaces such as those found in urban environments.

The platform has a gross weight of 100kg, can carry a payload of 25kg (including several current generation MBDA battlefield missiles), and can fly for up to an hour from its origin using internal battery power. Propulsion is provided by eight electric motors that drive a total of eight propeller units mounted in pairs along each of the four pitched wing main planes. The main aircraft spans a slender, deep fuselage equipped with sensors. Its battlefield value, beyond its stated role, is economical, as the Spectre is designed to be mass-produced and thus used in large numbers.

It also has lower overall operational and maintenance requirements than manned fixed-wing aircraft used for the same mission.

At the time of this writing (2018), Ghost is undergoing initial flight tests and plans to take the program to the next level with live-fire missile launch tests next year. It is expected to enter service sometime around 2023.

The British Army is a prime candidate for Spectre as it seeks to incorporate unmanned systems more broadly into its logistics and combat support streams.

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