Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System Designed Exclusively for Test and Evaluation

The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division has designed a Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft system especially for test and evaluation purposes. This announcement was made by AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS).

The senior vice president of AAI explained that the Shadow system has been utilised in a number of military operations by the Marine Corps. He added that the new test and evaluation system is a good opportunity for the Marine Corps to evaluate the use of the Shadow assets in new endeavours.

The Shadow Tactical UAS has completed its initial flight from the Webster Field Annex in Maryland and will be further used by the Marine Corps to assist the Small Tactical UAS Program Office (PMA-263)in its initiatives of tests and evaluation. One of the testing initiatives is  the wide focal plane array camera (WFPAC) payload development. With success of the WFPAC payload testing, the Shadow System will be used in persistent surveillance missions spanning over wide areas. Apart from the WFPAC payload testing, other payloads will also be tested on the Shadow UAS for supporting other missions. The PMA-263 systems have been used by the AAI for almost two decades now; the beginning of the usage of these systems was with the Pioneer unmanned aerial vehicle. The Shadow Tactical UAS have been serving the US Army, Marine Corps and the National Guard for a long time. Satisfied with their track record of providing reliable service these UAS have been selected for deployment by the allied forces in Italy and Sweden.