Northrop Grumman's Bat UAS successfully demonstrates Communications Relay Payload

6th August 2009 - 10:45 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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Northrop Grumman Corporation has successfully demonstrated a communications relay payload for a government customer during multiple flights of its Bat unmanned aircraft system (UAS).

Ideally suited to an irregular warfare environment, Bat offers real-time ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance), communications and strike capabilities in a system that is affordable, organic and persistent. Bat is runway independent, fully autonomous, and can be launched and recovered from land, air and sea.

The flight demonstrations occurred June 23-26, 2009 at Naval Air Facility El Centro, Calif. Northrop Grumman also demonstrated the Bat system's reliability with five flights over the four-day period.

"We are extremely pleased with the results of these flights, which were conducted in a realistic, desert theater setting," said Corey Moore, vice president of Advanced Concepts - Air and Land Systems for Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems sector.

Northrop Grumman is integrating several new payloads, a common ground control architecture and air vehicle upgrades that include a new engine, a new launcher capability and several air vehicle capability enhancements.

The communications relay payload was demonstrated on an air vehicle with a wingspan of 10 feet. The Bat product line features wingspans ranging from 6.5 to 33.2 feet.