The US Army has initiated a fly-off at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, to decide which of four tactical unmanned air vehicle (TUAV) candidates will be bought.
The $325 million TUAV competition includes the AAI Shadow 200, Alliant Techsystems Outrider, General Atomics Prowler II and S-TEC STM-5B Sentry. The Shadow 200 begins its system capability demonstration in the middle of this month. The US Army hopes to wrap up the fly-off before the end of November.
The service requires 42 brigade-level UAV systems with a range of 50km (30nm), costing less than $4 million each, with at least three electro-optical and infrared sensor-equipped air vehicles and a tactical control station.
Source: Flight International
