Navy details a huge unmanned aerial vehicle program
From CongressDaily
The Navy Wednesday gave a large audience of defense contractors details on what might be a multibillion dollar contract for an unmanned air reconnaissance system that would require scores of sophisticated flying drones, an array of high-technology sensors and communications systems and the associated ground control and data-receiving stations.
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The Navy program requires a large unmanned aircraft capable of flying 2,000 nautical miles each way. It must remain at its destination for at least 24 hours while surveying large areas of open ocean or coastal areas with state-of-the-art sensors that relay intelligence to both land-based command posts half a world away and to Navy task forces operating nearby, Massenburg and the other officials explained. BAMS also might fill in as a communications relay asset, they said.
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That clearly would require dozens of aircraft and associated systems that might cost more than $50 million each.
And the officials stressed that the program has attracted interest from at least nine foreign nations, which might increase the size of the contract.
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