Raytheon Group Mulls Predator UAVs For NATO Radar System

UAV NEWS

A Predator UAV

Washington - Sep 24, 2003
An international consortium led by Raytheon that is vying to build a $4 billion airborne radar system for NATO is inclined to incorporate Predator B unmanned aerial vehicles in its proposal, a Raytheon executive said Tuesday.

The executive, Peter Wray, said the consortium will submit a proposal in November for a system that would use both manned and unmanned aircraft to monitor battlefield threats. NATO wants the radar network, the Airborne Ground Surveillance System, to be ready by 2010.

The proposal will call for the use of five specially equipped Global Express jets from Canada's Bombardier Inc. and seven unmanned aerial vehicles of a yet-undecided variety, Wray said. Among UAVs, he told reporters at a briefing, the consortium's "main focus is on the Predator B," made by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. of San Diego.

NATO is expected to decide early next year which of two international consortiums will develop the radar system, which is designed in part to allow the armed forces of NATO's member countries to jointly track and attack battlefield targets. Many NATO countries now rely on national radar systems that are incompatible with the systems of other NATO members.

The second consortium, led by Northrop Grumman Corp., has proposed using Airbus' 321 jets and its own brand of unmanned aircraft - the Global Hawk. The aircraft is considered more sophisticated - but also more expensive - than the Predator, which first gained fame when the CIA used it to attack an al- Qaida convoy.

UAV NEWS

Boeing/Insitu ScanEagle UAV Completes Long-Endurance Flight

St. Louis - Sep 22, 2003
ScanEagle, a low-cost, long-endurance autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed and built by Boeing and The Insitu Group, successfully demonstrated its long-endurance capability when it completed a 15.2-hour flight at the Boeing Boardman test facility in eastern Oregon.

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