In November last year, I saw an advert in which the British Army appeared to use an Xbox controller to fly a miniature UAV. A few people commented on my blog on whether they thought this was real or not, so I decided to find out for certain by sending a Freedom of Information Act request to the Army.
Today I received a reply from the Army Recruiting and Training Division. You can see my original post for the full response, but in summary it confirmed the following points:
- The UAV shown in the advert is a Desert Hawk 3, which is currently deployed in Iraq
- The plane uses an XBOX-like controller, but it is not exactly the same. Specifically, it does not have any Microsoft branding nor a wired headset port.
- The advert was specifically designed to show people that (gaming?) skills developed prior to joining the Army can come in useful during current operations.
![Desert Hawk 3 Kit](https://www.pyrosoft.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/desert-hawk-3-kit.jpg)
I’m actually pretty satisfied with their response. To be honest, after receiving a somewhat negative answer from the press office when I first enquired I was expecting more of a fight before they gave anything away.
Desert Hawk 3 Facts
Length: 36 in./91 cm. Wingspan: 54 in./137 cm. Wing area: 504 sq. in./1283 cm. Empty weight: 6.5 lbs./3 kg. Payload growth: Up to 2.0 lbs./ 1 kg. or 288 cu. in./ 732 cu. m. Endurance: 90+ min. Portability: Backpack or small suitcase Operational range: Up to 15 km./9.3 mi. depending onfrequency and configuration
endurence of 60 mins, whats the issue with the controller, I know alot about DH3
The GCS in the picture is not used now.
i saw this on the add aswell and it seemed weird at first but when you think about it its really a good idea.but i think a playstaion controller would be the best tho..unless the xbox pad has more buttons i dont no but either way its smarter than having some big stupid machaine in front of you with buttons pocking out everywhere! 🙂