Boeing set to offer surveillance aircraft to international market
Boeing’s Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System (EMARSS) Risk Reduction Prototype (ERRP) aircraft has received Supplemental Type Certification (STC) from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), clearing the way for the company to begin offering the solution to the international market.
The aircraft, a Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350ER, has been modified to replicate the design of the EMARSS aircraft's external fuselage. The aircraft completed its first flight in October 2012 as part of the FAA flight test programme.
John Rader, vice president of electronic and sensor solutions, Boeing, said: ‘ERRP’s FAA certification gives us another approved modification in Boeing’s growing family of ISR airplanes. ERRP is a high-end signals intelligence aircraft that delivers near-real-time SIGINT to the warfighter, a capability in high demand from militaries around the globe.’
Boeing is developing EMARSS as a manned airborne multi-intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system designed to provide warfighters with a persistent capability to detect, locate, classify, identify and track surface targets in nearly all weather conditions, day or night, with a high degree of timeliness and accuracy.
Boeing’s Engineering, Manufacturing and Development contract with the US Army calls for four development aircraft as well as logistics services.
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