Scan Eagle UAVs, To be Bought By US Marine & Navy

The U.S. Marine Corps and the Navy intend to buy a yet-to-be determined number of Scan Eagles, which are 40-pound vertical-takeoff UAVs with electro-optical infrared sensors that can beam images from 5,000 feet.

The services currently lease Scan Eagles from their manufacturer, Bingen, Wash.-based Insitu. The Navy, Marines and U.S. Air Force have flown Scan Eagles more than 80,000 hours since the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Scan Eagle takes off from a launcher and is retrieved by a rope suspended from the launcher.A compressed-air launcher catapults the vehicle with a constant acceleration.It takes up a minimum amount of desk space. It does not require a net. It just uses a rope.With no net and no runway, it can be operated from a field. There is no need of large expanse. This makes it ideal for shipborne operations.

It has been great for IED detection, running up and down the roads and seeing things before the Marines get to them.