AAI marks milestone with Shadow UAS

HUNT VALLEY, Md., Nov. 4 (UPI) -- AAI Corp. announced a milestone achievement for its unmanned aircraft system following the completion of 100,000 missions with U.S. forces.

U.S. company and Textron Systems unit AAI says its Shadow tactical UAS technology has logged more than 445,000 flight hours by the U.S. military and has completed 100,000 missions supporting operations in regions including the Middle East and Central Asia.

The milestone achievement comes from the deployment of 87 Shadow systems delivered to the military. Company officials credit the longevity of the Shadow tactical UAS aircraft to an ongoing evaluation and system improvement process.

"The Shadow aircraft's mission set continues to expand through our ongoing enhancement activities," Steven Reid, AAI vice president of unmanned aircraft systems, said in a statement.

"We are fortunate to have several touch points with our users, from focus groups to direct feedback received by our field service representatives who work alongside deployed Shadow units. This valuable feedback keeps us connected to our customers' ever-changing mission needs so we can deliver system upgrades that meet those needs or anticipate new ones."