The Company:
METEOR
CostruzioniAeronauticheedElettronicheSpA
The Avionic Systems and Equipment Division of Alenia Difesa operates in the field of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) through METEOR S.p.A., Aircraft and Electronics Company. Established in Italy in 1947, METEOR is the Italian centre of excellence for UAV Systems, including high performance Aerial Targets (threat simulators), Surveillance/Reconnaissance Systems and for Simulation (Flight Simulators, Radar Simulators, Training Simulators, in general).
Accumulating over forty years of production and operating experience in the field of remotely piloted and automatic flying aircraft, through continuing development programs, it has succeeded in becoming one of the few leading companies in the world for UAVs development, production and service.
METEOR is also leading in the Simulators arena, being the national industrial reference for such business.
Personnel: 226 employees
METEOR UAV products cover the
following segments:
- Aerial Target Systems for weapon
systems training
- Threat Simulators for weapon systems
evaluation and qualification
- Tactical UAVs (surveillance,
reconnaissance, electronic warfare)
METEOR Target Systems saw operation
in the following sites:
- NAMFI (Nato Missile Firing Installation)
of Crete, Greece;
- Salto di Quirra Range, Sardinia Island, Italy;
- CEL (Centre d'Essais des Landes) Biscarosse, France;
- CEM (Centre d'Essais de la Mediterranee), France;
- El Arenosillo, Huelva, Spain;
- Lohtaja, Finland;
- Argentina and Egypt;
UK Ranges.
The UAV Business
METEOR is a world leader in the design, manufacturing, operation and marketing of totally integrated UAV systems, including the launch and recovery system, the airframe, the avionics, the navigation and data-link equipment, the Ground Control Stations (GCS), and other ancillary & service subsystems.
METEOR has a highly diversified product inventory covering aerial target and tactical segments for low to high speed applications, offering a variety of avionics and payload configurations to meet Customers operational needs.
The Company's activities are not limited to system design and manufacturing.
A continuous support to the Users in organizing, maintaining and operating is assured by a Field Operation Team from the Company. METEOR is currently running the NAMFI range in Crete providing Target Services for several NATO Countries, and is routinely conducting Service activities worldwide with their own target fleet (turn-key Services) .
The Products
MIRACH 100/5
During the late seventies METEOR developed the MIRACH 100 series as high performance target drones with tactical applications such as reconnaissance and electronic warfare. Powered by a single turbojet, the high-subsonic target drone is capable of performing missions either automatically or controlled by a Ground Control Station that receives the real time data link. This multi-role unmanned aircraft provides the military user with the maximum flexibility to accomplish a variety of missions with a single type of aircraft.
In particular the Mirach 100 has been selected as the most realistic threat simulator for the test and qualification activities of several state-of-the-art missile systems.
The Mirach 100 family has been successful in all international arenas, with particular reference to the RAM and IRIS-T missile qualification trials and to the NATO Tactical Firing exercises in Crete NAMFI Range.
The newly-borne MIRACH 100/5 is generally appraised by the training community as the current top-rating high-subsonic aerial target system present on the market. It is a high performance threat simulator used for a wide variety of weapon systems training and qualification. Applications include anti-aircraft gunnery, surface-to-air, air-to-air and low altitude missile firing practice.
MIRACH 26 Mini-RPV
Successor of the Mirach 20 Mini-RPV System and operational since 1999 in the Italian Army, the improved Mirach 26 is a small unmanned battlefield surveillance system featuring a high wing, twin tail boom and a reciprocating two-stroke engine driving a pusher propeller. It takes off from a zero-length ramp with the aid of a launch booster mounted in the rear section of the aircraft. It is used for target acquisition, identification and localisation and provides real time e/o images of the battlefield. It is recovered by parachute.
The System features a protected Command and Control link.
MIRACH 150
It is a high subsonic low-wing reconnaissance drone, a launch-and-forget type UAV designed for deep penetration reconnaissance, damage assessment, ESM missions, and target saturation.
The Electro-optical sensor package includes IRLS, Pan Cameras, TV Cameras.
The Mirach 150, in service with the Italian Army, has the peculiarity to share the same avionics, datalink and ground subsystems of the Mirach 26 System.
With its multi-decennial experience in servicing aerial targets, Meteor is ready to provide high performance targets presentations all over the world according to the newest threat scenarios and doctrines.
Meteor is also operating, in the frame of the Dornier Meteor Co-operation (DMC) in the Crete NAMFI Range with its own aerial targets fleet for the benefit of several NATO armed forces.
The Simulation Business
In 1989 METEOR entered the Training Simulators business by developing subsystems for large flight simulators programs (Tornado and Harrier Simulators) and complete turn-key solutions (Twin Engine Turboprop Simulator), including Personnel Training programs, Logistic Support and continuous Post-Delivery Upgrades (SW and HW).
METEOR is a shareholder of the ESS (Eurofighter Simulation Systems) GmbH, Munich, constituted and manufacture the EFA Flight Simulators of the ASTA Programme. Within this framework METEOR is contributing with the design and production of the instructor subsystems, the lesson planners, the simulated DRLMS and databases.
The Products
RES
Radar Environment Simulator
METEOR is also marketing a Radar Environment Simulator (RES) having a state of the art digital modulator and a complete simulation of the ECM and clutter effects.
This device may inject training or test scenarious of multiple simulated events into the RF or IF section of a radar head and then operate hardware-in-the-loop with combined real and simulated targets.
The digital signal processing unit produces high density radar returns which can be used to properly characterise the radar performance or train the operating personnel for a mass attack raid.
The RES system is manufactured applying MIL standards and is contained in a ruggedized 19” cabinet for installation in a shelter. The current configuration is compatible with 3D long range acquisition sensors, but the digital nature of the device leads to an easy reconfiguration of the simulation software, which can be modified to follow any Customer’s requirement.
The exercise controller station and lesson planner is networked and can be installed remotely to connect to multiple RES devices in a multi-sensor scenario. The instructor station can be replicated and interconnected, offering the possibility to drive multi-forces attacks against the distributed sensors in real-time, in an integrated environment under a master exercise controller.
TORNADO Simulators
Initially delivered as basic trainer from CAE to IAF, is now maintained and updated by Meteor that is now the Design Authority for the system.
In this time Meteor has installed and integrated the Visual System, the Electronic Warfare Module (EWM) and is developing the program of full update of the system started on 1997. Part of this program including the update of the basic system, the DRLMS and the Update of the EWM is completed and accepted.
Meteor is developing the new IOS and Briefing/Debriefing facilities, the new RTIO system and the integration of Laser Bomb System (CLDP).
Contemporary Meteor is involved also in the flight configuration update modifications to reach the Tornado configuration of end 1999.
The Tornado simulator is the main tool of the Italian Basic school of Tornado (OCU) based in Ghedi site.
AV 8B HARRIER II PLUS
Nell’ambito dell’intesa fra le nazioni partecipanti al programma AV-8B, Meteor ha sottoscritto un sub-contratto con la società spagnla INDRA per il simulatore di volo del velivolo AV-8B HARRIER II PLUS in dotazione alla Marina Militare Italiana.
EF2000 – ASTA
Meteor participates in the European Joint Venture ESS (Eurofighter Simulation System) GmbH to develop the ASTA (Aircrew Synthetic training Aids) for EF 2000.
It is candidate to study, develop and produce instructor Operation Station (IOS), Briefing/Debriefing Station, Lesson Planner Scenario generator, database Generation System, Digital Land mass System (Visual functions) for the Italian Air Force simulators.