From Dolphins to Destroyers: The ScanEagle UAV
Mar 30, 2018 04:50 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff
March 30/18: Dolphin hunter goes inland The US government is procuring 8 ScanEagle unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in support of the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Insitu Inc. has been awarded external link a contract valued at over $47 million. ScanEagle’s base Insight UAV platform was originally developed by Washington state’s Insitu, Inc. to track dolphins and tuna from fishing boats. Its characteristics make it equally suitable for naval operations and for battlefield surveillance. A partnership with Boeing took ScanEagle to the defense market. The ScanEagle is launched by catapult, and autonomously recovered using a folding “skyhook†and catch-line. These UAVs fill a niche between hand-launched mini-UAVs like Aerovironment’s RQ-11 Raven and runway-capable tactical UAVs like Textron’s RQ-7 Shadow. The drone can be modified to speciality variants, from sniper locator, to bio-warfare agent detection. The ScanEagle is currently in service in Canada, Malaysia, Colombia, Iraq, Tunisia, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Singapore. The deal also includes spares, other support equipment, 17 field services representatives plus site surveys and activation teams. The majority of work (95%) will be performed in Afghanistan with the remaining 5% being completed in Bingen, Washington. Work is scheduled for completion in March 2019.
https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/from-dolphins-to-destroyers-the-scaneagle-uav-04933/
