New Zealand turns to proven UAS to meet rapid procurement for army
Thousands of Black Hornet nano-UAS have been in service worldwide and the new version, Black Hornet 4, was released two months ago. (Photo: Teledyne Flir)
New Zealand will refresh its army’s lower-tier UAS capability under contract awards announced in mid-December with deliveries expected to begin next year.
The New Zealand Army will operate three levels of UAS under contracts awarded earlier this month with deliveries expected to begin in 2024 but possibly within months in some cases.
The provision of three UAS comes under Network Enabled Army (NEA) Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) which is included under the broader NEA programme.
The NEAISR programme began life in August 2019 to deliver a system, including sensors and intelligence processing capability, to the New Zealand Army to improve situational awareness and support deployed commanders’ decision-making at all levels.
The RfP closed in July 2022 with an emphasis on military-off-the-shelf
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