ScanEagle

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ScanEagle is a low cost, long endurance UAV built by Boeing and Insitu.

ScanEagle is a descendant of another Insitu UAV, SeaScan, which was conceived of as a remote sensor for collecting weather data as well as helping commercial fishermen locate and track schools of tuna. ScanEagle emerged as the result of a strategic alliance between The Boeing Company and Insitu. The resulting technology has been successful as a portable Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) for autonomous surveillance in the battlefield, and has been deployed since August 2004 in the Iraq War.

ScanEagle carries an inertially stabilized electro-optical and/or infrared camera on a light-weight inertially stabilized turret system integrated with communications range over 100 km, and flight endurance of 20+ hours. ScanEagle has a 10-foot wingspan and can fly up to 75 knots. Block D aircraft featured a higher resolution camera, a custom-designed Mode C transponder and a new video system. A Block D aircraft, flying at Boeing's test range in Boardman, Oregon set a type endurance record of 22 hours, 8 minutes.^[1]

ScanEagle needs no airfield to deploy. Instead, it is launched and recovered using Insitu's patented SuperWedge launcher and SkyHook retrieval system, which uses a rope hanging from a 50-foot pole. This runway and crosswind independence makes ScanEagle an ideal solution for both sea and land-based operations.

[edit] References

1. ^ "Boeing ScanEagle achieves major flight milestones", Aerotech News & Review, November 23, 2006

[edit] External links

• DefenseLink article on ScanEagle deployment in Iraq.
• Insitu home page, with links to pictures and video of ScanEagle.