Thursday 20 June 2013

ScanEagle Reconnaissance Aircraft – the Fleet Air Arm is to get its own “Eagle Eyes” in a £ 30m deal for unmanned aircraft – the Boeing pilotless plane has been used by the US Navy over the past decade and has been trialled by the Royal Navy.   The small, unarmed ScanEagle “robot” plane, which can be launched from the flight decks of Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels, can operate day or night.

The ScanEagle was trialled aboard the Type 23 Frigate SUTHERLAND in 2006 and the primary role is to gather intelligence and it was by the Americans while working alongside the Royal Navy on recent mine warfare exercises in the Gulf.

Manufactured by Boeing’s subsidiary Insitu the ScanEagle is a small drone – an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) – has a wingspan of just over three metres (10ft) and weighs 22kg (48lbs) and is launched from a pneumatic catapult.     Flying at about 60 knots, it is piloted by a specialist team on board the ship who will plan the ScanEagle’s missions, control its flights and monitor and analyse the information it gathers using its state of the art sensors, including a video or infra red camera, beaming back ‘real-time’ high resolution images via a satellite link.     It can stay airborne around for 15 to 18 hours at distances upwards of 70 miles from the ship.    Once its flight is over it returns to the “mother ship” where it’s caught by dangling a rope vertically, which catches in a hook at either end of each wing.     The aircraft is grappled by a recovery device and lifted back on board.

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