USSOCOM contracts Insitu for MEUAS ISR services

The US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has awarded a contract to Insitu for mid-endurance unmanned aircraft systems (MEUAS) intelligence gathering, target surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) services.

As part of the contract, services will be provided by the company over a period of 26-months until 28 February 2015.

The support contract will cover introduction of a number of technologies to help enhance the capability of the warfigher.

Insitu ScanEagle programmes senior vice president Curt Chesnutt said that the company will continue to provide ISR services.

"For the past three and a half years we have provided SOCOM agile and responsive and uninterrupted services with our ScanEagle system and we look forward to continuing our valued relationship," Chesnutt added.

Jointly developed by Boeing and Insitu, the ScanEagle UAS can support special services operations, escort operations, protection of sea-lane and convoy, high-value and secure installations, as well as the relay of high-speed wireless voice, video and data communications.

The UAS payloads include electro-optical and infrared sensors, biological and chemical sensors, laser designators and a magnetometer for identification and locating magnetic anomalies.

Featuring 900MHz UHF datalink and a 2.4GHz S-band downlink for video transmission, the small-operational footprint UAS will enable the Special Operations forces to capture superior image quality.

The system is currently in operational service with the US Marine Corps, the US Navy and the Australian Army.