Teledyne Ryan · Reconnaissance · United States · Cold War (1970–1991)
Open in interactive gallery →See aircraft like this on the live radar →The Teledyne Ryan Model 324 Scarab is an American jet-powered, low-observable reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle developed by Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical (now Northrop Grumman) for export. First flown in 1988, the Scarab was built specifically for the Egyptian Air Force and became the first U.S. UAV designed and exported entirely for a foreign customer. As an early jet-powered penetrating reconnaissance drone, it foreshadowed a technology path that later UAV programmes would follow.
The airframe measures 14 ft (4.3 m) long with an 11.0 ft (3.4 m) wingspan. Empty weight is 770 lb and maximum take-off weight 1,070 lb. Power comes from a single Williams International F107 turbojet rated at roughly 700 lbf — the same engine fitted to the AGM-86B and AGM-129 cruise missiles. Maximum speed reaches Mach 0.92 (around 700 mph at sea level), with a 40,000 ft service ceiling. The Scarab launched from a ground-based rocket booster and recovered by parachute. Its sensor fit centred on KS-87 and KS-153 panoramic reconnaissance cameras alongside supporting equipment.
The Scarab's principal mission was deep-area photographic reconnaissance, giving the Egyptian Air Force a covert means of imaging threats across the Middle East. The design reflected Egypt's specific mission profile: high-speed penetration of contested airspace, photographic reconnaissance, and parachute recovery for reuse. Around 56 airframes were delivered, with production running from 1988 to 1995 at Teledyne Ryan's San Diego, California facility. Details of Egyptian Scarab missions are not extensively documented in the public record; the platform left Egyptian Air Force service in the early 2000s as newer UAVs entered inventory.
The programme began with an Egyptian Air Force requirement for a high-speed reconnaissance drone in the late 1980s. Teledyne Ryan won the work, the first flight followed in 1988, and roughly 56 airframes were built and delivered between 1988 and 1995. As an early U.S. UAV export tailored to a foreign customer rather than adapted from a domestic platform, the Scarab established a programme model rarely repeated in later U.S. practice (the Turkish-developed TB2 offers a loose parallel from a different industrial base). Teledyne Ryan's lineage carried into Northrop Grumman, which continues to build high-performance UAVs including the RQ-4 Global Hawk — the Scarab marks an early step in that family tree.
The Teledyne Ryan Model 324 Scarab is an American jet-powered scout drone. It first flew in 1985 and was sold to Egypt as one of the first long-range military drones with stealth features. The Scarab can fly hundreds of miles, take photos with its cameras, and come home all by itself.
The Scarab has one Teledyne CAE J402 jet engine making 660 pounds of thrust. Top speed is 553 mph, faster than most race cars. The drone is 14 feet long with a 11-foot wingspan, smaller than a small car. It is launched from a rocket booster mounted on a truck, then flies on its own engine.
The Scarab carries cameras (color and infrared) and sometimes signal-listening gear. Its body is shaped to be less visible on radar, making it an early stealth drone. The mission usually lasts about 7 hours, covering an area 500 miles from the launch site. After the mission, the Scarab parachutes back to the ground for recovery.
Egypt was the only Scarab customer, buying 56 in the late 1980s and 1990s. The drone was used over Israel during exercises and possibly real spy missions. Teledyne Ryan was later bought by Northrop Grumman, which built newer drones like the RQ-4 Global Hawk. The Scarab is now in museums.
The Scarab's small jet engine can't make enough thrust to lift the drone off the ground. So a separate rocket booster (mounted on a truck) gives the Scarab a hard kick at takeoff. The booster falls away as the drone climbs, and then the Scarab's own engine takes over. This is similar to how some old missiles were launched.
The Scarab has no wheels. At the end of a mission, the drone flies back near its base, slows down, and releases a parachute. The parachute slows the Scarab's fall to the ground. An airbag inflates underneath to cushion the landing, much like in cars. After landing, the drone is recovered, checked, and reused.
The U.S. limits what military drones can be exported to other countries. Egypt was a close ally and got special permission. Other countries built their own scout drones. Israel built the IAI Scout, Britain built the Phoenix, France built the SDTI. Each country preferred to build its own rather than buying American drones with limits attached.
Egyptian mission need met U.S. export programme economics. The Egyptian Air Force wanted a high-speed reconnaissance UAV to monitor threats across the Middle East, and the U.S. defence industry was willing to supply one under Foreign Military Sales. Rather than adapting a domestic platform, Teledyne Ryan tailored the Scarab to Egyptian requirements — high-speed penetration of contested airspace, photographic reconnaissance, and parachute recovery for reuse — making it a bespoke export design.
It was an early U.S. UAV programme built from the outset for a foreign customer — a model rarely repeated in later U.S. export practice. Most subsequent U.S. UAV exports (Predator, Reaper, Global Hawk derivatives, Switchblade) began as platforms developed for domestic use and were exported afterwards. The Scarab's export-first programme structure stands out historically.
It is far more limited. Scarab uses 1980s-era technology, photographic-film cameras, parachute recovery, and no real-time data-link. Today's reconnaissance UAVs — the RQ-4 Global Hawk, MQ-9 Reaper, and RQ-22 ScanEagle among them — bring digital sensors, real-time data-links, updated flight-control, and longer endurance. Later platforms have left the Scarab well behind.