Bristol Aerospace Robot-X

first, British Aerospace (BAe) and Canadian Bristol Aerospace are quite different species
second, third, why Google is not so popular again?


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Defence Research Establishment Suffield
In 1979, under the auspices of the Technical Cooperation Program (TTCP), a joint US/Canadian feasibility
study was undertaken to improve the US Army Ballistic Aerial Target System (BATS) using Canadian
developed CRV-7 rocket motors. The TTCP program culminated in a vehicle known as ROBOT-5 standing
for “Rocket Boosted Target.” Defence Research Establishment Suffield (DRES) later initiated a program for
both 7 and 9 motor configurations and later developed ROBOT-9.
By 1984 DRES had developed a number of aerial test platforms including:
• ROBOT-9
• ROBOT-5
• TATS-102
• Twin-HULK
• R2P2
ROBOT-5 and ROBOT-9 were proven to be very effective and extremely low-cost, high-speed target drones.
Following their success, DRES began the proof-of-concept development of a winged, rocket-boosted, multistaged
target that was named Robot-X.
The Robot-X drone, designed for travel at high-subsonic speeds, was able to maintain a low altitude hold,
manoeuvre along a pre-programmed path, and have a range greater than 37 kilometres. Wind tunnel tests
were conducted in 1982 and the forward-wing, canard-configured, drone’s design was frozen.
Click to expand...
 
The following might perhaps be of interest.

Realising the importance of better simulating attacks launched by anti-ship missiles, a unit of the Research and Development division of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), the Defence Research Establishment Suffield (DRES), in Alberta, designed a long-range target drone equipped with an homing system – a first for that establishment. A prototype of the ROBOT-X flew around November 1986. Work continued for a few years and included a version with a jet engine. The Research and Development division of the CAF abandoned the ROBOT-X in the early 1990s.
 
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The guidance system was designed/built by Atlantis Flight Research in Brampton who at the time also developed avionics test equipment. Atlantis went on to produce Simulated Aircraft Maintenance Trainers (SAMT) for F15E (USAF) CF18, Seahawk and Blackhawk (Australia), Flight Training Devices (FTD’s) for B757,B767, MD80 , Beech Kingair …. The avionics business (Atlantis Avionics) was sold to an employee. The simulation business was sold to Bluedrop in Nova Scotia.
 

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