The Navy expects to conduct ship-based testing of its RQ-21A small tactical unmanned aerial vehicle for carrying out intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance missions early next year.
Marine Col. Jim Rector, the program manager for the Navy and Marine Corps’ Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (STUAS) program, said the RQ-21A Integrator completed land-based operational assessment and developmental testing in November.
Integrator, built by Boeing [BA] subsidiary Insitu, will shift to testing aboard a ship in early 2013 ahead of a decision to move into low-rate initial production (LRIP) by the end of March, Rector said in a statement.
The Integrator is a follow on to the ScanEagle, which has been widely deployed by the Navy and Marines in the conflicts in the Middle East and Afghanistan, and is also built by Insitu. Integrator is larger than ScanEagle, carries a bigger payload and can stay aloft longer. The catapult-launched RQ-21 can fly at a radius of about 50 nautical miles from its operating center.
Insitu won the STUAS competition in 2010, defeating General Dynamics [GD] and Raytheon [RTN].