SMALL (LEVEL 0) TACTICAL UAS (STUAL0)

Abstract

The RQ-21A program will provide persistent maritime and land-based tactical Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition (RSTA) data collection and dissemination capability to the Warfighter. For the United States Marine Corps (USMC), RQ-21A will provide the Marine Expeditionary Force and subordinate commands (divisions and regiments) with a dedicated, organic Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capability delivering intelligence products directly to the tactical commander in real time. For the United States Navy (USN) RQ-21A will provide persistent RSTA support for tactical maneuver decisions and unit-level force defense/force protection for Navy Ships, Marine Corps land forces, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command forces, and Navy Special Warfare Units. This is a combined development program between Navy and Marine Corps. This submission is the Marine Corps portion of the program and has been coordinated with the Navy budget submission PE 0305234N RQ-21A BLACKJACK (formerly known as (Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (STUAS)). The RQ-21A system will continue to evolve addressing capability shortfalls, new requirements, obsolescence equipment, reliability, maintainability, and safety issues. Additional capabilities and/or system upgrades may include Navy Command and Control integration, Weapons Integration, Heavy Fuel Engine, Laser Designator, Frequency Agile Communications Relay, Digital Common Data link, and cyclic refresh of the Electro-optical/Infrared (EO/IR) camera. The decrease in funding from FY14 to FY15 is due to completion of major test periods. The decrease in funding from FY15 to FY16 reflects the re-phasing of funding to better align with ongoing program development.

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Document Details

Document Type
Project
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2016
Source ID
2298_0305239M_7_1319_PB_2016

Tags

Readers

  • Maritime and Naval Warfare Studies
  • Naval Mine Countermeasure Systems Development.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - UAVs
  • Directed Energy
  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control

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