ST. LOUIS, 9 June 2008.Boeing and Insitu Incwon a $65 million contract to provide continuing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) services through the ScanEagle unmanned aircraft system.
The contract, awarded by Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, Md., runs through May 2009 with options for extensions.
The long-endurance, fully autonomous ScanEagle unmanned aircraft (UA) entered service with the U.S. Navy in 2005 and has been deployed with sea and land detachments in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other areas of the world.
The ScanEagle has been deployed aboard 15 different vessels in various classes, including the"Boeing is pleased and excited to continue our relationship with the U.S. Navy by providing superior ISR services so critical to the success of the warfighter's mission," says Don Iverson, ScanEagle U.S. Navy program manager for Boeing.
The ScanEagle UA carries inertially stabilized electro-optical and infrared cameras. The gimbaled cameras allow the operator to easily track stationary and moving targets. Capable of flying above 16,000 feet and loitering over the battlefield for more than 20 hours, the platform provides persistent low-altitude reconnaissance.
ScanEagle is launched autonomously via a pneumatic SuperWedge catapult launcher and flies preprogrammed or operator-initiated missions. An Insitu-patented SkyHook system is used for retrieval -- the aircraft catches a rope suspended from a 50-foot-high tower. The system makes the ScanEagle system runway-independent, with a small footprint similar to that needed for vertical takeoff and landing vehicles.
