Competition over Shadow UAV Replacement

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 The US Army’s Future Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System effort aims to select a new intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drone, to be used by brigade combat teams to enhance situational awareness and identify threats.

As the US Army assesses competitors to replace its reliable-but-noisy RQ-7 Shadow reconnaissance drone, it’s putting some through their paces at the sprawling Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.

Textron’s Aerosonde HQ, a catapult-launched and net-recovered unmanned aerial system that is one of four vying to replace shadow, has been undergoing recent testing at Yuma.

Other candidates include the V-Bat vertical takeoff UAS offered by Martin UAV and Northrop Grumman; the Arcturus JUMP-20 UAV; and the FVR-90 from L-3 Harris according to military.com.