ScanEagle Flies 22 Hours

Insitu, Bingen, Wash., said a preproduction prototype of its ScanEagle Block D unmanned aircraft (UA) flew more than 22 hours in its baseline configuration before a successful recovery at its flight test center in Boardman, Ore. It landed with a fuel reserve of about one hour. Block D changes reflect customer requests during its more than 25,000 hours in deployment. Enhancements include an improved infrared (IR) camera with a factor of three improvement in resolution; a new inertially stabilized turret with a factor of five improvement in disturbance rejection; a custom, ultra-light, Mode C transponder to facilitate airspace deconfliction; new video transmitter system; and in-flight fuel measurement systems. Introduced in 2003, ScanEagle is developed in partnership with Boeing Co. for the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy. More