Special Operations Command awards Insitu $18M for continued drone operations

U.S. Special Operations Command has awarded Insitu $18 million for mid-endurance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance under the MEUAS 1.5B program.

The award is a modification to an existing contract that raises the ceiling of of the program to $250 million to prevent gaps in ISR services as they switch orders over to MEUAS III.

The ScanEagle is an unmanned aerial vehicle with a 10-foot wingspan that provides intelligence surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance data with high endurance.

It can hover over areas for over 24 hours at a maximum altitude of 19,000 feet and carry several kinds of sensor payloads and other equipment. It can be launched from makeshift sites using a catapult and a hook-and-line recovery line so it does not require a runway.

Insitu also operates the U.S. Special Operations Command's MEUAS program using ScanEagles under a contractor-run fee-for-service model for ISTAR services.

The ScanEagle MEUAS program has been in service since 2004 when it was first introduced in Iraq. It is one of the standard contractor-run drone services in use by the Department of Defense today.

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Washington (UPI) Nov 20, 2018
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