RQ-7 Shadow UAV

Abstract

The Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (TUAS) RQ-7 provides the Army Brigade Commander with dedicated Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition (RSTA), Intelligence, Battle Damage Assessment (BDA), and Force Protection. In line with the Army's Aviation Restructure Initiative (ARI) three Shadow Platoons are being integrated into the Combat Aviation Brigade's (CAB) Apache Reconnaissance Battalion. This will provide Aviation Brigades with Manned-Unmanned-Teaming (MUM-T) and enhanced Aerial Scout capabilities. The RQ-7B Shadow has logged over 1,090,000 flight hours, most of which were flown in support of Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). The full Shadow system consists of four air vehicles with payload, two Universal Ground Control stations, two Universal Ground Data Terminals, one Portable Ground Control Station with Portable Ground Data Terminal, Ground Support Equipment, two launchers, ten High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs) with trailer(s), and a Light Medium Tactical Vehicle. Each system is equipped with one Maintenance Section Multifunctional (MSM) and is supported at the division level by a Mobile Maintenance Facility (MMF). The baseline fielded payload was the electro-optic infrared (EO/IR), but half of those have been replaced with a Laser Designator (LD) payload. All 104 systems required by the Army Procurement Objective (APO) have been procured. In 2010 the Army G8 established an RQ-7B Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) MODs program. Justification: Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 RQ-7B UAS Base funding of $12.863 million will be utilized in the following: 1) $10.696M will be used to continue modifications for the RQ-7B UAS, 2) $2.167M provides interoperability and enhancements for the One System Remote Video Terminal (OSRVT). The $10.696M for modifications of the RQ-7B UAS will conduct an operational test on the Shadow v2 Block III upgrade, complete testing of the air vehicle modifications to allow operations in a Global Positioning System (GPS) denied environment and Air Vehicle and Ground Equipment software development for interoperability and MUM-T. The operational test for the Block III upgrade is required to assess the safety, suitability and effectiveness of the Block III upgrade prior to fielding. The GPS denied development is a phased, multi-year effort. Phase I (FY16) provided a trade study to determine the best hardware and software alternatives. Phase II (FY16) initiated the design and development through preliminary design review. Phase III (FY17) completed design and development through critical design review and conducted engineering flight testing. Phase IV (FY18 & FY19) will complete development, qualification, and developmental testing. RDTE also provides interoperability modifications that support MUM-T with the AH-64 Apache Helicopter, and Systems Engineering and Test and Evaluation to support the capability improvements.

Document Details

• Document Type: R2 Budgetary Justification
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2019
• Source ID: 0305233A_7_2040_PB_2019
• Change Summary Explanation: Addition of $2.7 Million in FY2019 will be used towards the completion of developmental testing of the ability to operate in a GPS denied environment; Interoperability software modifications that support Manned Unmanned Teaming with the AH-64 Apache Helicopter.
• Service Agency Name: Army

Entities

Organizations

• United States Army

Tags

Communities of Interest

• Autonomy

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

• Aircrafts
• Battle Damage Assessment
• Contracts
• Damage Assessment
• Engineering
• Force Protection
• Global Positioning Systems
• Ground Control Stations
• Ground Support Equipment
• Program Management
• Reconnaissance
• Reconnaissance Aircraft
• Systems Engineering
• Test And Evaluation
• Unmanned Aerial Systems
• Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
• Unmanned Systems

Fields of Study

• Engineering

Readers

• Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Autonomous Capabilities and Mission Reconnaissance.

Technology Areas

• Autonomy
• Autonomy - UAVs
• Directed Energy
• Space