Insitu to provide six ScanEagle unmanned aircraft for Philippines

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designers at Insitu Inc., a subsidiary of Boeing, in Bingen, Wash., will build six ScanEagle small UAVs for the government of the Philippines under terms of a $7.4 U.S. Navy order. Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., are asking Insitu to provide six ScanEagle UAVs, support equipment, training, site activation, technical services, and data for the Philippines. The ScanEagle UAV is 5.1 feet long with a 5.6-foot wingspan weighing as much as 48.5 pounds. Able to carry a 7.5-pound sensor payload, the UAV can fly for more than 24 hours at altitudes as high as 19.500 feet, and at speeds to 80 knots. ScanEagle can carry a sensor payload consisting of visible-light camera, medium-wave infrared imager, or both integrated in one turret. The UAV also has an analog digitally encrypted video data link, as well as encrypted or unencrypted command-and-control data link. The UAV can be launched autonomously and uses a no-nets recovery system that recovers with its wing tip on a rope that hangs from a boom.