WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army has ordered three dozen more RQ-7B unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from AAI Corp. to be delivered over the next year.
The RQ-7B Shadow 200 has been operating in the skies above Iraq since 2003, flying some 76,000 hours during more than 17,000 sorties in support of U.S. operations.
The $87 million contract announced Monday calls for the delivery of nine Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Each TUAS package consists of four RQ-7B UAVs plus ground control stations and various support components. Delivery began last month and will run through March 2008.
Small and lightweight, the Shadow travels aboard Humvees with intelligence units in the field where they can be quickly deployed to provide tactical reconnaissance information in daylight and at night. The individual aircraft can remain aloft up to four hours.
The original concept is to keep pace with Army brigades on the move and act as their aerial eyes.
The Army has purchased 64 such TUAS systems since bringing the Shadow aboard in 1999 -- a total of 256 individual UAVs
"This is the fourth consecutive full-rate production contract awarded to AAI since the U.S. Army first selected our Shadow TUAS as a vital intelligence-gathering asset," said AAI President Fredrick Strader. "We're pleased to extend our production and development of Shadow's innovative technologies and advanced capabilities that are relied upon to accomplish missions."
AAI is a subsidiary of United Industrial Corp.
