UNMANNED SYSTEMS UPDATE

02 Jan 08. Raytheon Company recently completed initial testing of the Tactical Control System’s (TCS) command and control capabilities for the U.S. Navy’s MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter. The testing was conducted Dec. 15, 2007, at the Webster Field annex, Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Md. The TCS provides the Navy with a single unmanned aircraft system (UAS) that can control two air vehicles. The system is so advanced that one system can control two dissimilar air vehicles. The control system consists of mission planning, command and control and data processing and dissemination capabilities for operation of the medium altitude endurance and tactical family of unmanned aircraft systems.

02 Jan 08. URS Corporation announced that the Company’s EG&G Division has been awarded an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to provide engineering and program management services for the Joint Unmanned Aircraft Systems (JUAS) Center of Excellence (COE) at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada. The three-year contract has a maximum value of $60m to URS. Under the terms of the contract, URS can be assigned task orders for a variety of engineering and program management services, including logistics, test and evaluation management, modeling and simulation, as well as administrative, contract, financial, data and security management.

03 Jan 08. AeroVironment, Inc. (AV) announced that the United States Air Force BATMAV (Battlefield Air Targeting Micro Air Vehicle) program has received Milestone C approval and authorization for Full Rate Production. The BATMAV program achieved these two significant milestones under the rigors of the United States Department of Defense 5000 Acquisition process in just over 11 months from contract award. The Air Force selected AV’s Wasp III as the micro air vehicle (MAV) for its BATMAV Program in December 2006.