The (retired) first eye in the sky

The Canadian Forces’ first retired CU-161 Sperwer unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) – tail number 161001 – was unveiled at its new home at the Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa on Feb. 23, 2010, National Aviation Day and the 101st anniversary of the first powered flight in Canada.

The Sperwer was the first UAV used by the Canadian Forces and is a milestone in military history just as the first flight by J. A. D. McCurdy in the Silver Dart was more than a century ago.

“The early pioneers of powered, heavier-than-air flight – Alexander Graham Bell [and], Douglas McCurdy – had a dream,” said Lieutenant-General André Deschamps, Chief of the Air Staff during the unveiling.

“They dreamed of putting a human being in an aircraft and putting that aircraft in the sky.

I suspect, however, they never thought that a hundred years later, we would take human beings out of aircraft and fly them using controls that might be dozens, maybe even thousands, of miles from the aircraft.”

The Sperwer began its operations in October 2003, just months after the need for tactical surveillance capabilities were deemed urgent in Afghanistan.

In its nearly six years in action, the Sperwer logged more than 4,500 hours in intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance related missions. The aircraft was managed jointly by the Army and Air Force. It retired from operations in February 2009 and replaced by the next generation of UAV in Canada, the CU-170 Heron.

Over the next few months, five other CU-161 Sperwers will be donated to museums across Canada, including the National Air Force Museum at 8 Wing Trenton, Ont., the Greenwood Military Aviation Museum at 14 Wing Greenwood, N.S., the Tac Hel Memories Museum at 1 Wing Kingston, Ont., the National Artillery Museum at CFB Shilo, Man., and the Air Force Museum of Alberta in Calgary, Ab.

By Jill St. Marseille - Canadian Armed Forces