Army Asking Industry if it can Accelerate Delivery of UAV to Replace RQ-7 Written 4 May 2021
A US soldier performs pre-flight inspections on a RQ-7B Shadow in Afghanistan in 2019. | Credit: Army Sgt. Jordan Trent; Wikipedia; Public Domain
Breaking Defense reports that the US Army is “asking industry if it can accelerate delivery of a new scout drone…to replace the aging RQ-7 shadow after a successful year of field tests of four competing prototypes, culminating in a rainy-day ‘rodeo’ at Fort Benning.” Army UAS Project Manager Col. Scott Anderson said that a formal requirements document for the Future Tactical Unmanned Aerial System (FTUAS) should be approved in July. Anderson said, “In support of that, just recently, we issued an RFI [Request For Information] out to industry just to see potentially if we could accelerate that program somewhat. … And it’s been such positive feedback…23 industry partners responded to that RFI.” Anderson acknowledged that the Army would have to move some funding to get the UAV sooner, but “if they want to accelerate the program…we stand ready to do that.”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)