RQ-21A Integrator ©INSITU Insitu's RQ-21A unmanned air system has reached Milestone C under the Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft ...
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| RQ-21A Integrator ©INSITU |
Insitu's RQ-21A unmanned air system has reached Milestone C under the Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (STUAS) contract with US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).
The achievement will enable the program to transition from the Engineering, Manufacturing and Development (EMD) phase to a Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP)phase and enter initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E).
RQ-21A will provide persistent maritime and land-based tactical Reconnaissance, Surveillance,and Target Acquisition (RSTA) data collection and dissemination capabilities to the warfighter.
The RQ-21A UAS will be the first organic & dedicated multi-intelligence UAS for U.S. Marine Corps and Navy tactical commanders.
The real-time, actionable intelligence and maritime domain awareness coming from multiple sensors off an expeditionary and ship-capable Group 3 sized UAS accelerates the 'when & how' our commanders will receive, process, disseminate and act on intelligence. They will no longer be waiting for this level of intelligence from joint or higher headquarters, but these tactical commanders will have it organically at their level...land or sea. The ability to 'find, fix and then finish' adversaries and threats has been greatly accelerated with the RQ-21A multi-INT UAS,' said PMA-263 Program Manager Col. Jim Rector.
NAVAIR awarded the STUAS contract to Insitu in 2010 to begin development of RQ-21A, a variant of the company's Integrator unmanned system.
Insitu delivered an early operational capability to the U.S. Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twenty nine Palms in 2011, less than a year and a half after the contract was awarded, to provide land-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data collection for pre-deployment exercises.
In 2012, the program successfully completed land-based developmental testing and operational assessment. And in early 2013, the program conducted its first maritime flight.
RQ-21A is twin-boomed, single-engined, monoplane , designed as a supplement to the Boeing Scan Eagle UAS, and weighs 61kg (135lb) and uses the same launcher and recovery system as the Scan Eagle, using a unique pneumatic launcher and a recovery system known as Skyhook.
