Australia shortlists Insitu and Textron for Tactical UAV requirement


The Insitu RQ-21A (left) and the Textron Aerosonde V4 (right). Photo c/o ADBR.



Two out of four companies competing for the Australian Army's LAND 129 Phase 3 Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems (TUAS) has been shortlisted to continue in the next stages of the project.

The two companies were identified as Insitu Pacific, which offered their RQ-21A Integrator and ScanEagle 3 UAVs, and Textron Australia with their Aerosonde V4 UAV.

Both companies beat out Leidos Australia which offered the Aeronautics Defense Orbiter 4 from Israel, and Raytheon Australia-Schiebel Pacific team with the S-100 Camcopter.

The LAND 129 Phase 3 project aims to replace the Australian Army's fleet of AAI RQ-7B Shadow 200 Version 1 currently operated by the 20th Surveillance and Target Acquisition Regiment.

The RQ-7B Shadow 200 Version 1 was found to be obsolete for further use in the next few years, and even the US Army has started replacing them with a newer variant, the RQ-7 Shadow 200 Version 2, which the Australian Army found as not in line with their own requirements.



[1] ADBR 
[2] Asia Pacific Defense Journal

Australia shortlists Insitu and Textron for Tactical UAV requirement Australia shortlists Insitu and Textron for Tactical UAV requirement Reviewed by Asia Pacific Defense Journal on November 13, 2020 Rating: 5

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