Navy orders three RQ-21A Blackjack small tactical UAVs for Navy and Marine Corps surveillance
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md., 5 Jan. 2015. U.S. Navy officials are buying three new RQ-21A Blackjack small tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to provide surveillance capability for U.S. Marine Corps and Navy tactical commanders.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced a $41.1 million contract this week to Boeing Insitu Inc. in Bingen, Wash., for three low-rate-initial-production Blackjack UAVs, to include air vehicles, ground control stations, launch and recovery equipment, and spare parts.
The Boeing Insitu RQ-21 is a twin-boom, single-engine, monoplane UAV for surveillance and reconnaissance. It an be launched and recovered on land or at sea without runways, using a pneumatic launcher and net-type recovery system. The contract was announced on 18 Dec. 2014.
The 81-pound Blackjack -- so-named in September 2013 -- is eight feet long with a 16-foot wingspan designed to carry multi-sensor payloads in large pod below its nose. The UAV can fly as fast as 104 miles per hour, cruises at 63 miles per hour, can fly as long as 24 hours, and can fly as high as 19,500 feet. It is a version of the Insitu Integrator UAV.
The multi-mission RQ-21A Blackjack's open-architecture payload bays can be customized with visible-light and infrared cameras, communications and other tools to give warfighters on the forward edge of battle situational awareness information.
It can integrate new payloads quickly, offers roll-on, roll-off capability to move the system quickly from ship to shore, and aboard cargo aircraft. The UAV can carry sensor payloads as heavy as 39 pounds.
Related: Navy buys one Insitu RQ-21A Blackjack UAV in preparation for ramping-up production
The Blackjack's standard sensor payload consists of a visible-light imager, mid-wave infrared imager, laser rangefinder, infrared marker, communications, and Automatic Identification System (AIS).
The RQ-21A will provide persistent maritime and land-based tactical reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition (RSTA) data collection and dissemination capabilities to the warfighter.
For the Marine corps it will provide the marine expeditionary force, divisions, and regiments with a dedicated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) system that sends information to the tactical commander in real time.
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For the Navy the Blackjack will provide persistent RSTA information to Navy ships, Marine Corps land forces, Navy expeditionary combat command forces and Navy special warfare units.
On this contract, Boeing Insitu will do the work in Bingen, Wash., and should be finished by January 2016. For more information contact Boeing Insitu online at www.insitu.com, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.
John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
