Helping in the cause

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/03/2003 (8587 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE soldier removes model airplane parts from his backpack and carefully pieces them together. Launching the little plane with a slingshot made of bungee cord, he watches it fly over the hill.

This scenario, which could play out in Iraq over the next few weeks, is not about a boyish soldier trying to distract himself with recreation, but is the deadly serious business of war.

The Snake Eye plane is equipped with video cameras that send live images back to a laptop computer the U.S. soldier would carry in the same backpack.

“The individual soldier wants to know if there’s somebody two hills over,” MicroPilot president Howard Loewen said.

Canada may not be at war, but Manitoba companies will be providing some crucial support to troops of other countries engaged in the conflict.

Winnipeg-based Cangene packaged smallpox vaccine the soldier may have taken before he went overseas and produced the antidote he would have been given if he had a bad reaction.

Standard Aero maintains the engines for U.S. Air Force transport planes and Bristol Aerospace has sold rocket weapon systems for British planes and helicopters, although the company does not know whether they will be used in Iraq.

Loewen invented the miniature autopilot systems that guide the Snake Eye, which can stay aloft for up to 55 minutes. It follows a programmed flight path, but can be redirected in mid-air and fly up to 10 kilometres away before returning to be used again.

Even if the planes with a metre-wide wingspan are never recovered after circling a few times over enemy territory, they’re so much cheaper than conventional airplanes that the military may consider them expendable at $20,000 to $50,000 US each.

MicroPilot’s component of the Snake Eye, manufactured by BAI Aerosystems of Maryland, is worth about $4,000 US.

With only 15 of the drones in the hands of the U.S. military, MicroPilot is not about to get rich on its contribution to a war in Iraq — unless it drags on long enough for BAI to manufacture more — but MicroPilot’s reputation could soar.

The Snake Eye is still in the final stages of testing, but Loewen said the pressures of war could persuade the U.S. military to deploy it in Iraq.

Pentagon officials confirmed this week that the Marines have deployed small drones in the Persian Gulf.

With ground combat expected to play a bigger role than during the last war against Iraq, the U.S. military is eager to give its foot soldiers the kind of high-tech tools already available for air strikes.

The Snake Eye, weighing about three kilograms, is the first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) small enough to fit into a backpack. MicroPilot’s ability to squeeze its autopilot technology onto a small lightweight computer board is key.

Larger UAVs send their images back to a commander, not directly to the soldier in the field.

The drones the size of large birds of prey can also be used for urban warfare, letting soldiers see behind buildings. They are equipped with infrared sensors that show the warm glow of human bodies in the darkness and can also be fitted with sensors to detect nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

The Snake Eye’s small size makes it easier to escape detection by radar.

Loewen hopes to make the same technology available to farmers who want to get a look at their crops from the air without hiring a pilot to fly a full-sized plane at a height that produces less detailed photographs.

For other Winnipeg companies, support for the war in Iraq is a matter of fulfilling ongoing contracts.

Cangene puts millions of doses of smallpox vaccine in vials for the U.S. government at its Baltimore facility and produces the antidote in Winnipeg.

Standard Aero has a $1.5-billion, seven-year contract to repair and overhaul the U.S. Air Force’s older fleet of Hercules transport planes in San Antonio, Texas.

Cormer Group Industries, which just received a $2.7-million loan from the province to expand its Winnipeg aerospace parts plant, refuses to discuss its defence work, citing the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulation.

helen.fallding@freepress.mb.ca

PHOTO JOE BRYKSA/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS