Belgian Army

ULTIMA target drones

Philip Avonds designed the ULTIMA target drone and the associated production set-up for the Belgian Army. It was a 2 metre wingspan all composite multi purpose vehicle with a primary mission as a target drone for the yearly Mistral firing campaign held at the NATO Missile Firing Installations on the isle of Crete, Greece. During this campaign, some 30 Mistral missiles were fired at the same number of ULTIMA drones, resulting in a direct hit almost every time. The drones were equipped with smoke flares for visualisation and infrared flares to act as a heat source for the heat seeking missiles. An OS MAX BGX 35 cc glow engine propelled the drone to a speed of almost 200 km/h.

Philip Avonds controls the ULTIMA drone to a smooth landing on the rocky soil of the launch area. Sometimes, the  missile cannot be fired because of a ship crossing the safety area...

The Ultima target drone design and development was completely done by the military of the Belgian Army with the help of Philip Avonds. The target drone was in production during 28 years in which well over 1000 of these were manufactured in house. Some photographs from the very beginning below.

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Philip Avonds Scale Jets