Boeing subsidiary Insitu was awarded a quite $390 million contract to provide Blackjack and ScanEagle drone systems for the U.S. military and for foreign military sales, the U.S. Department of Defense said during a release.

The $390,390,785 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-19-D-0033) provides for up to 63 RQ-21A Blackjack air vehicles for the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy, the Friday, June 28 release said.

 

It also provides for up to 6 RQ-21A unmanned aircraft systems and up to 17 air vehicles for foreign military sales, including to Canada, Poland and Oman.

Insitu also will provide up to 93 ScanEagle unmanned aircraft systems in various configurations.

Training, test and engineering, operations support, maintenance and other services also are included.

Work is predicted to be completed in June 2022.


The RQ-21A Blackjack small tactical unmanned aircraft system may be a military version of Insitu’s Integrator drone that's capable of operating from land and sea.

It first flew in February 2013 and therefore the U.S. Navy received two Blackjack systems in July 2015. The U.S. United States Marine Corps conducted its final mission with Textron’s RQ-7B Shadow in July 2018, replacing it with the Blackjack.

The RQ-21A is actually a bigger , more-capable version of the ScanEagle. it's a wingspan of  4.9 m (15.7 feet) and Insitu says it's a ceiling greater than 20,000 feet and an endurance greater than 16 hours at a cruise speed of 60 knots. It can carry a payload of up to 17.7 kg (39 lb).


One RQ-21A unmanned aircraft system includes five air vehicles with multi-mission payloads, two communication system stations and other equipment.

The quality payload configuration includes an electro-optic imager, a mid-wave infrared imager, a laser rangefinder and infra-red marker, but the system’s modular design enables rapid customization with imagers, communication systems, EW systems and signals intelligence capabilities.

Both the Blackjack and ScanEagle system use a trailer to pneumatically launch the drone, and both are recovered using Insitu’s SkyHook system.

The Boeing Insitu ScanEagle drone may be a small, portable low-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle which will operate over land and sea.


The UAV features a flight endurance of up to 18 hours and is employed for battlefield intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance. it's a wingspan of three .1 m (10.2 feet), and flies at a cruise speed of 50-60 knots with a flight ceiling of 19,500 feet. The drone can carry a payload of up to five kg (11 lb).

One ScanEagle system reportedly comprises four air vehicles, a communication system station, a remote video terminal and therefore the launch and recovery systems. The drone carries a stabilized electro-optical and/or infrared camera on a light-weight inertial stabilized turret system. It can also carry a miniature synthetic aperture radar.

In June, Insitu was awarded almost $48 million for 34 ScanEagle UAVs for Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam, and in April, Lebanon received six Boeing Insitu Scan Eagle unmanned  aerial systems from the U.S.