ScanEagle completes 5,000 hours of service

BRISBANE, Australia, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Boeing said Tuesday its ScanEagle system had clocked 5,000 hours of successful operation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Boeing Australia Inc. and Insitu Inc. said in a statement that their ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle had "provided 5,000 hours of eye-in-the-sky surveillance and reconnaissance services to Australian Army forces in Afghanistan and Iraq."

"By working together as trusted partners with a common purpose, the Australian Defense Force, Boeing Australia Limited and Insitu Inc. are delivering life-saving services to Australian soldiers who are on-the-ground risking their lives," said David Withers, president of Boeing Australia Limited.

"It is has been extremely rewarding for Boeing to play a key role in establishing the highly utilized ScanEagle UAV asset as a critical component of the Australian Army's overseas force protection operations," Withers said.

"Insitu has received positive feedback and an acknowledgment of our efforts in aiding the ADF soldiers," said Steve Nordlund, Insitu vice president of business development and program management. "These encouraging reactions are what keep our team driven to continually improve the ScanEagle platform. We are honored that the services we provide help to save the lives of troops on the ground."

"The fully autonomous ScanEagle UAV, developed by Boeing and Insitu Inc., can capture stationary and moving imagery using an inertially stabilized electro-optical or infrared camera," Boeing said.

"Measuring four feet long with a 10-foot wingspan, the UAV provides more than 15 consecutive hours of 'on-station' coverage," the company said. "It is launched autonomously via Insitu's SuperWedge pneumatic wedge catapult and flies pre-programmed or operator-initiated missions guided by a Global Positioning System. It is retrieved using the SkyHook system in which the UAV catches a rope hanging from a 50-foot high pole."