Northrop Grumman is pitching its Sandshark as a training unmanned aircraft to potential buyers at the AUVSI show. The aircraft would be offered to the Pentagon under a fee-for-service model, but international customers could buy it outright.
It can emulate just about any UAV, says Karl Purdy, new unmanned aircraft program manager. But it was originally designed to train General Atomic-Aeronautical Systems MQ-1 and MQ-9 aircraft.
Purdy says the aircraft is compatible with the US Air Force's next generation control station.
To demonstrate just how good the system is, Northrop has setup a live demonstration at the AUVSI show. Purdy says a visitor at the company's booth will be able to fly a Sandshark over Montana via a cellphone 4G internet connection or land-line link.
Response times for the aircraft are as quick as a line-of-sight data-link, Purdy asserts.
An on-site safety pilot prevents the student from doing anything too outrageously dangerous. So far over two years, the company has had no incidents.
Northrop has not secured any orders yet, but there has been interest from several potential customers, Purdy says.
Source: Flight Daily News
