PREDATOR’S
eye view
The Spanish Air Force tests its new intelligence,
surveillance and air reconnaissance capabilities in
Talavera la Real air base (Badajoz)
SINCE the beginning of
2020, Talavera la Real
air base (Badajoz) boasts
experience and modernity.
On the runway, under vinyl
awnings and all lined up, stand the
long experienced F-5B fighters of
the 23rd Fighter Training Wing,
which this year celebrate their 50th
anniversary as trainer aircraft for
future fighter pilots. Close to these
highly experienced aircraft, next
to the control tower, stands a huge
mobile hangar housing the most
advanced version of two MQ-9
Predator Remotely Piloted Aircraft
(RPA). This plane weighs over 4,700
kilos at take-off, has a wingspan of
22 metres (14 metres more than the
F-5Bs) and is eleven metres long
between the propeller and a nose
whose design recalls the head of a
beluga whale. A synthetic aperture
radar protrudes from its nose, while
two electro-optical cameras and an
infrared camera hang underneath.
These cutting-edge sensors are the eyes
with ISR (intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance) capabilities used
by the Air Force in the operational and
strategic fields.
And not only during the daytime,
but also at night, because the two
NR.05 Predator B (Spanish military
name) and the other two that are
scheduled to arrive at the air base in
Badajoz before the end of this year,
are both operated via satellite.
This is the only kind of Remotely
Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) in
the Spanish Armed Forces with this
capability. A system that enables it to
observe from thousands of kilometres
away, while flight crews take turns on
the ground for long periods of time,
which might even exceed 24 hours.
The images captured by the aircraft
sensors from a maximum ceiling of
50,000 feet (15,240 metres) arrive in
real time and are interpreted on the
ground by analysts who may also be
far away from the location where they
are taken. Due to its take-off weight,
range, endurance and altitude, the
new Air Force Predator is a RPAS
Class III aircraft and falls into the
MALE (Medium Altitude/Long
Endurance) category.
ISR CAPABILITY
Next to the mobile hangar, also in a
temporary and deployable facility,
the RPAS Air Force Group takes
shape and grows. “A pioneering unit
in the Air Force”, as highlighted by
its commander, Lieutenant Colonel
Juan José Terrados, who goes back
The images
captured by
the aircraft
are analysed
in real time by
operators
24 Revista Española de Defensa December 2020