The AAI Shadow 200 tactical unmanned air vehicle (TUAV) being developed for the US Army as the RQ-7A will begin initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) this month after completion of operational exercises at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
The RQ-7A IOT&E flight testing, expected to last a month at Fort Hood, Texas, is to be conducted using only US Army personnel.
Operational tempo exercises concluded in March required the system to gather 74h of targeting data over five days. The UAV exceeded the objective, using production hardware operated and maintained by soldiers who completed training during the Arizona field trials.
The trials, conducted as a risk- reduction exercise, used a low-rate initial production Shadow system of three air vehicles, three ground stations, a hydraulic launcher and logistics support elements. Thirty flights were flown amassing 97h, the longest flight lasting nearly 5h.
In 1999 AAI won a $41 million low-rate initial production contract for four operational test and evaluation systems. A full-rate production decision is due later this year with the US Army planning to buy 44 RQ-7A TUAV systems worth over $300 million.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has won a $39 million contract to supply seven additional RQ-1A Predator UAVs to the US Air Force.Source: Flight International
