ScanEagle and Integrator -- two versatile unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from the hangars of Insitu -- a wholly owned independent operating subsidiary of Boeing, will be at the Aero India 2013.
With an eye to capture the potential market for surveillance platforms in the country, Boeing is exhibiting full-size models of these UAVs for the first time in India, which are proven and now flying with Armed Forces of many nations.
The ScanEagle platform, designed for autonomous land and maritime field operations, is capable of being launched from anywhere and posses longer endurance.
The Integrator retains key ScanEagle features like small system footprint, long endurance, autonomy, stabilised imagery, shipboard launch and recovery, low observable signature, and hub-and-spoke operation. It even has capacity to employ a mix of larger payloads, for longer periods, in austere conditions.
“ScanEagle can deliver the highest quality data possible to tactical decision-makers and is ideal for Indian conditions. We feel India requires high performance, low-cost unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) requirements. Be it the harsh and fast-paced operating environments of land and sea combat, we believe Insitu’s ScanEagle and Integrator platforms offer India ISR capability for different missions,” Boeing Defence, Space and Security, India, Vice-President Dennis Swanson told Express.
He said ScanEagle has logged more than seven years of uninterrupted service with the US Department of Defence customers. It was first deployed in-theater under a services contract with the US Marine Corps in 2004, and with the US Navy in 2005.
“The UAV is now deployed with military forces in the United States, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Poland and Singapore,” Swanson said.
Though originally designed to track fish populations, these UAVs are engineered to withstand extreme environmental stresses of a maritime environment.
“In June 2012, ScanEagle exceeded 6,00,000 combat flight hours, maintaining a 99 per cent mission-readiness rate. Integrator uses the same interoperable launch and recovery system designs that have been used since 2004 in combat and other extreme environments, attaining nearly 100 per cent mission availability,” Swanson said.