Ehécatl (airplane)

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The S4 Ehécatl in take-off mode

The S4 Ehécatl, an unmanned aerial vehicle, is the first UAV completely designed and manufactured in Mexico, providing safety for human lives in hazardous zones. The craft is developed and manufactured by a Mexico-based firm, Hydra Technologies.^[1]

A prototype of the airplane was presented in the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget on June 19, 2007. In August 2007 at Washington D.C., a full-scale model of the latest beta design (the S4) was exhibited at the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) symposium, an aeronautics exposition with over 275 exhibitors. At the conclusion of the AUSVI symposium Hydra Technologies became the first non-U.S. recipient of the AUSVI's 'Al Aube Outstanding Contributor Award' for the development of the S4 Ehécatl UAS (Unmanned Aerial System).^[2]

1 Name
2 Description
3 Specifications
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links
7 Gallery

[edit] Name

The name is derived from Nahuatl: ehēcatl, meaning "wind" or "air".^[3] In the mythology of the Aztecs and other cultures of pre-Columbian central Mexico, Ehecatl is a deity figure associated with the wind. He is most regularly interpreted as another aspect of the Feathered Serpent deity Quetzalcoatl, in his aspect as a god of winds (Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl).^[4]

[edit] Description

The Ehécatl is an aerial unmanned surveillance system whose development began in 2002. Its principal market is directed towards providing security and surveillance capabilities in support of the Armed Forces, as well as civilian protection in hazardous situations. According to Hydra Technologies, the drone “observes what happens by land or sea. Because of its unmanned nature, it can enter dangerous zones being undetected.”^{[cite this quote]}

Apart from an American-made FLIR infrared thermal sensor system, all of the S4 Ehécatl's componentry and avionics are designed, developed and manufactured in Mexico by the firm Hydra Technologies.^{[citation needed]}

The S4 has a complex electronic system that is designed to provide up to eight hours of autonomous flight, in either daytime or nighttime conditions. The craft is controlled from a mobile central facility installed in a specially equipped three-man ground vehicle.^{[citation needed]}

According to Hydra Technologies, who seek to introduce the product into the Mexican and American markets, the airplane is billed as competitive in cost and quality to other drone systems.^{[citation needed]} The surveillance capabilities of the product is also billed by Hydra Technologies as possibly offering "an effective solution of the border problems between the U.S. and Mexico."^[5]

The project developing the craft is a joint effort of the Mexican Federal Government, the Financial Sector, and Mexican academic and scientific institutions like CONACYT, the Instituto Politéctino Nacional, the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara and ITESO.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Specifications

The airplane is a UAV, also called UAS.
The version for the Ehecatl ready for market as for December of 2007 is the S4, having its first flight in 2006.
The system was designed for military and civilian use, including the Mexican Armed Forces, for its use in ready-made platforms, like the Brazilian Surveillance System “’EMB-145’”, and the Northrop Grumman E2 Hawkeye AEW Aircraft.
It has a maximum velocity of 90 knots, with a maximum operating ceiling of 15,000 ft in height.
It can take-off from higher altitudes than 8,000 ft.
It provides Mode Techniques for any type of weather or terrain.
All the data is integrated by General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems
The S4 model has a wingspan of 12 ft (3.7 m), and MTOW of 120 lb, including a payload of 20 lb.
It has a 8 hr resistance in a 38 knots flight.
The device only contains one piece that is American-manufactured: the “FLIR Systems Infra-red Sensor”, a thermal sensor system of IR imaging.

[edit] Notes

^ Hydra Technologies (2007)
^ Hydra Technologies (2007).
^ ehēcatl is formed from a reduplication of the word ecatl, which has the same base meaning. Ehēcatl has in addition several metaphorical uses, including "divinity", "invisibility", "malady" or "epidemic" (particularly as an "ill wind"). See entry under "EHECATL" in Wimmer (2006).
^ Miller and Taube (1993, pp.84–85).
^ Quoted from press release, Hydra Technologies (2007)