AAI Corporation has been awarded a $97.1 million modification to an Army contract for the full-rate production of a tactical datalink retrofit for the Shadow Tactical unmanned aircraft system, the U.S. Department of Defense revealed Friday. According to AAI’s parent company, Textron , the Shadow UAS is used by U.S. Army and Marine Corps “for reconnaissance, surveillance, targeting, and assessment.” The UAS is capable of spotting a target up to 125 kilometers (roughly 77 miles) away from a tactical operations center, and can recognize vehicles located up to 8,000 feet from the ground. The labor will be conducted in Hunt Valley, Md., and should be finished on Oct. 31, 2018. Spc. Jeremy Squirres of Company A, 101st Military Intelligence Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, prepares a Shadow 200 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for launch at Forward Operating Base Warhorse, Iraq in 2004. (Image: Spc. James B. Smith Jr./U.S. Army) The DoD also announced that General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has been awarded a $34 million contract for software support benefiting the Air Force Special Operations Command’s MQ-9 UAS. The company will create and field the MQ-9 medium altitude long endurance tactical (MALET) lead-off hitter (LOH) software line. General […]
