The zero-length take-off and landing was an essential requirement for operating in NATO's Central Region and deployment in a forward divisional area. The Phoenix was recovered by parachute, landing on its back, with a crushable 'hump' on the back taking up the impact. The launch rail having been originally developed for the US Army Aquilla UAV that failed to enter service. Phoenix was 'zero-length' launch being projected into the air from a launch-rail mounted on the back of a truck. Phoenix was mostly made of Kevlar and other plastics. This tends to obstruct a sensor turret, and so the sensor payload, built around an infrared imager, was carried in a pod slung well under the fuselage. The Phoenix was a fairly typical combat surveillance UAV, powered by a 20 kW (26 hp) piston engine, but is distinctive in that it is a 'tractor' aircraft, with the propeller in the front. It was the third generation of UAV in British Army service with the Royal Artillery after SD/1 and Canadair Midge. It had a twin-boom UAV with a surveillance pod, from which the imagery was data linked to a ground control station (GCS) that also controlled the aircraft in flight. The BAE Systems Phoenix (originally GEC-Marconi Phoenix) was an all-weather, day or night, real-time surveillance Unmanned Air Vehicle. British Army Phoenix Phoenix displayed at the former REME Museum of Technology site at Arborfield

Phoenix drone service