U.S. Marines Want More SIGINT Drones

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

The U.S. Marine Corps wants more BlackJack UAS.

The service has deployed an early version of its newest unmanned aerial system (UAS), the small, rail-launched Block 1 RQ-21 Blackjack to begin early operations in Afghanistan in April in response to a Central Command urgent need for signals-intelligence collection there. The plan is to begin operations of the Marine Corps’ first full-up RQ-21As—different from their predecessors in that they are capable of shipboard operations—this fall.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

According to Aviation Week with a wingspan of just 16 ft., the Blackjack is a derivative of the Integrator small tactical UAS built by Boeing subsidiary Insitu. The design, with a 39-lb. maximum payload, beat out three competitors in July 2010: Raytheon’s Killer Bee-4, AAI Corp.’s Aerosonde Mk. 4.7 and General Dynamics/Elbit Systems’ Storm. The Blackjack is optimized to give Marines a look ahead, whether they are landing on a beach or conducting patrols in urban terrain.