Insitu delivers Integrator STUAV to US Marines

Insitu has announced that it has delivered and flown the first of two Integrator Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) that will provide the US Marine Corps an early operational capability for the Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (STUAS) programme. The company made the announcement in a 15 February 2012 statement.

The STUAS programme was awarded to Insitu for its Integrator UAS in July 2010 to provide persistent maritime and land-based tactical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data collection and dissemination capabilities to the warfighter. Just six months after contract award, the first operational assessment was completed and the Marine Corps elected to obtain an early operational capability.

According to the company, the Marines are acquiring the first system through a Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated (GOCO) business arrangement. The Marines will own the system at Twentynine Palms while Insitu Field Service Representatives (FSRs), who have accumulated more than 575,000 combat flight hours with the ScanEagle UAS, will operate and maintain it.

A second system was delivered to NAVAIR earlier this month. As the early operational capability exercises progress, the US Marine Corps will continue to collaborate with Insitu on the development of the Integrator-variant, designated RQ-21A, which is on track for delivery in 2013. The team is building hardware to support flight testing, which will culminate in a second Operational Assessment (OA-2) at the end of 2012.