- Yes!
- No!
The EMT Aladin (short for “abbildende luftgestützte Aufklärungsdrohne im Nächstbereich”), meaning “Imaging airborne reconnaissance drone in nearest area”, is a small, reusable, hand-launchable, all-weather, radio-controlled military UAV developed by the German company “EMT”, mainly intended for the Bundeswehr, the German army.
The concept of the Aladin UAV was to include a small, compact and easily transportable recon platform, with the ability to operate in both extremely cold, and extremely hot environments, while also being weather resistant and capable of being used for night-missions. The development of such a UAV was proposed in May 2000, and EMT was selected for the contract in July 2000. EMT was awarded the development contract in July 2001.
Development was concluded in March 2005 and was marked with an immediate order of 115 Aladin drones for the German army. The first Aladin was received on the 19th October 2006 and marked it’s official adoption into the ranks of the German armed forces.
A total of 323 Aladin UAV’s with ground-control equipment were delivered to the German army until June 2014. As of 2015, 290 drones and 145 complete systems were in operational condition.
The design of the Aladin is of a rugged and compact nature, with most of it’s frame being constructed out of fibre-glass composites, making it light yet resistant to damage like when landing, since the UAV only is equipped with a landing damper on the underside of the fuselage. A total of four colour-cameras are present on the drone, with two real time day video-cameras, one thermal video-camera and one high quality and high magnification digital photo-camera.
The Aladin can be assembled and put into action in 5 minutes, it also only takes 5 minutes to disassemble the drone, this is possible in the field and without tools.
Before being reused for another mission, the accumulator has to be replaced. The drone can be piloted two ways, either directly over GPS, or by using pre-set waypoints, which can be changed during flight. An emergency landing-system allows for save landing in the case of communications with the operator being lost.
When in operation, the GPS location, altitude and heading of the drone are displayed to the operator in real-time.
The two-bladed propeller, with hinged blades, is driven by a single, brushless electric motor, which in turn is powered by a 14,4V lithium-manganese accumulator.
The Aladin saw combat-deployment with the Bundeswehr in the northern parts of Afghanistan.
Pictures:
Spoiler
Specifications:
Length: 1,53m
Width: 1,46m
Height: 0,36m
Combat Weight: 3,55kg
Top Speed: 70 km/h
Service Ceiling: 150m
Endurance: 60 min
Range: 5km
Conclusion:
Given that currently, every nation has the same scout UAV, the Russian “ZALA”, I would like to suggest this little German scout as the standard recon UAV for German light tanks from rank VI onwards. It is the only hand-launched “plane-like” drone used by the German army that falls into the small UAV category, as all others would either be helicopters, quadcopters, or too large. This would offer a unique UAV for German ground-forces, which would be an excellent scouting platform, being a small target, while having thermal imaging technology, decent speed and also good endurance of one hour, which is longer than any normal match would last.
Thanks for reading! If you spot a mistake, or want to add something, feel free to comment below! 
Sources:
Spoiler
https://www.army-technology.com/projects/emt-aladin-uav/
EMT Aladin - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia
Die UAVs der Bundeswehr | FLUG REVUE
Photos: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) | MilitaryAircraft.de - Aviation Photography
http://www.httpwww.worldwide-military.com/Military Aircraft/UAV/Aladin_Nederlands.htm