British Defence Ministry has signed £30 million contract for ScanEagle mini maritime reconnaissance drones for Royal Navy. Built by Ins...
British Defence Ministry has signed £30 million contract for ScanEagle mini maritime reconnaissance drones for Royal Navy.
Built by Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing, the ScanEagle is the first maritime-specific unmanned air system capable of supporting naval operations.
ScanEagle will be launched off the back of Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships day or night to gather intelligence and survey the wider area of operations.
It will complement the existing British intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets such as helicopters and long-range radars.
Under the contract, Boeing will provide contractor-owned, contractor-operated service until March 2015, with options to extend the services further.
It carries either an electro-optical or an infrared camera. Both are inertially stabilized. The gimbaled camera allows the operator to easily track both stationary and moving targets. ScanEagle vehicles can operate individually or in groups to loiter over trouble spots.
The unarmed aircraft, has a wingspan of just over 3 metres and weighs 22 kilograms and powered by a 1.9 hp (1.4 kw), 2-stroke engine. It has a ceiling of 5,944 m and a max horizontal speed of 80 knots. ScanEagle can remain covert and on station for more than 24 hours.
The ScanEagle is launched autonomously by a pneumatic wedge catapult launcher and flies preprogrammed or operator-initiated missions. A "skyhook" system is used for retrieval, with the UAV catching a rope hanging from a 50-foot-high pole. The patented system allows ScanEagle to be runway independent and operate from forward fields, mobile vehicles or small ships.
