In effect that navy could soon have what
amounts to a drone-style mother ship or
an underwater aircraft carrier in some
respects. The company will produce its blackwing
10C electro-optic and infrared
ir equipped unmanned aerial vehicles, in
support of the submarine launched
unmanned aerial system program.
These units will be used on various navy
submarine platforms during the SLUAS middle tier acquisition program
execution. Estimated to be completed in
may 2023. The notice read
aerovironment was awarded the contract
as no other supplies or services will
satisfy agency requirements. The notice
added while the contractor is also the
only known responsible source at the
present time. For the announcement the navy will
procure up to 120 UAVs with the ordering
period set to begin in may 2021 and
conclude two years later in may 2023.
According to inside defense the
company's blackwing 10 CUAVS have
already been developed, tested and
integrated with the rest of the SLUAS components and subsystems. This notice is not a request for
competitive proposals however all
responsible sources may submit a
capability statement, proposal or
quotation which shall be considered by
the agency. The Dodd notice also noted in december it was reported that the
navy was seeking submarine-launched
aerial drones that could be employed to
find targets miles away and relay back
targeting information on enemy ships, submarines, aircraft or other kinds of
hostile activity.
According to the Navsea request for
proposal the UAV would be required to
remain airborne for at least one hour, operate at ranges out to the line of
sight radio horizon and use a variable
bandwidth encrypted data link with at
least
256-bit encryption strength. The us navy has also explored ways that
drones could help to resupply submarines
at sea. It tested such a platform earlier this
the year in which a large
quadcopter-type drone could deliver
small payloads to a surfaced submarine.
Aerovironment is flying high the
california-based company also announced
that its wholly owned subsidiary Arcturus UAV was awarded a competitive
task order valued at approximately seven
million dollars from the u.s. special
operations command. That competitive task order is for a
one-year period of performance which
started on february 3rd 2021. Part of aerovironment's expanded
portfolio of medium UAVS, the fixed wing
jump 20 is capable of vertical takeoff
and landing, making it completely runway
independent, said Rick Pedigo
aerovironment vice president of global
sales and business development via a
statement. It means runway independence maximizes the
ability of customers to deploy the jump
20 in a broad range of locations and
environments while minimizing the
logistical footprint required to operate
it.
