UAV updateScanEagle offers and example of dual-use technology
Initially developed to track dolphins and tuna from fishing boats in order to ensure “dolphin-safe” tuna in supermarkets, the ScanEagle UAV system has evolved into a mainstay with the U.S. Navy — and others as well
Here is a case of dual-use technology. ScanEagle’s base Insight UAV platform was originally developed by Washington State’s Insitu, Inc. to track dolphins and tuna from fishing boats, in order to ensure that the fish you buy in supermarkets is “dolphin-safe.” Defense Industry Daily reports that it turns out that the same characteristics needed by fishing boats — able to handle the salt-water environment, low infrastructure launch and recovery, small size, 20-hour long endurance, automated flight patterns — are equally important for naval operations from larger vessels, and for battlefield surveillance. A partnership with Boeing took ScanEagle to market in those fields, and the rest has been making history.
Boeing has had field representatives in theater for a few years now to support and operate the Boeing/Insitu ScanEagle UAV from ships and ashore, receiving high battlefield praise and a regular stream of contracts from the United States and Australia. ScanEagle has been demonstrated or used from fifteen different vessels of various classes, including the USNS Fred G. Stockham [T-AK 3017] supply ship, HSV-2 Swift fast catamaran, USS Whidbey Island [LSD 49], Carter Hall [LSD 50] and Oak Hill [LSD 51] amphibious landing ships, and USS Oscar Austin [DDG-79] Flight IIA Arleigh Burke Class AEGIS destroyers. ScanEagle is currently being readied for deployment aboard the Flight II AEGIS destroyer USS Mahan [DDG-72], and a number of specialty adaptations from sniper locator, to bio-warfare agent detection are being tested.
The ScanEagle UAV system has evolved into a mainstay with the U.S. Navy — and others as well. The latest news involves a new datalink that offers significant performance improvements, without requiring extensive modifications.
