History
The Chukar target drone was developed and produced by Northrup Ventura in 1968. It can be launched from land based or ship based zero length launchers. JATO rockets were used to accelerate it to stable flight speed and a Williams J-400-WR-400 turbojet provided 121 pounds of thrust for propulsion. It could travel at speeds up to 400 knots and had a ceiling of 40,000 feet. It was ingeniously designed to include passive or active radar, wingtip infrared flares and a smoke system for visual tracking. It can be rigged with flotation equipment for recovery over water. After a training mission a parachute is deployed and telemetry information on defensive missile performance can be downloaded. The drone is named for the Chukar Partridge, a game bird that thrives from the Western Mediterranean, through the Middle East and into Asia.