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The US Marine Corps selected the 'Battlefield
Air Targeting Micro Air Vehicle' (BATMAV) system for its
'Tier I' micro UAV requirement. Sofar the corps was using two
mini UAVs at the battalion level – the BAI DragonEyes
and the Raven from AeroVironment.
Both were fielded at the Marine Expeditionary Units (MEU) level.
The smaller Wasp III will be deployed at the platoon level.
“The small size and light weight of Wasp make it ideally
suited for deployment directly to platoons, where flexibility,
portability and reliability are critically important."
said U.S. Marine Corps Major James Roudebush, Tier I UAV Program
Manager, PMA-263. (More...)
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"We have been evaluating Wasp for some time, and believe
that it offers a unique new capability to support our Marines’
missions around the world." The Marine Corps will procure
the BATMAV systems through the Air Force BATMAV contract, which
was awarded to AV in December 2006 and provides a means for other
U.S. armed services to procure these systems. The Air Force Special
Operations Command plans to use these systems in support of ground
combat contriller teams.
This week AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV) announced it was awarded
a $19.3 million order for the supply of the miniature drones.
Each of the Corps' BATMAV systems will consists of two Wasp
III micro air vehicles (MAV), a hand-held ground control unit,
a data-link assembly and a battery charger. Wasp III has a wingspan
of 29 inches and weight of one pound. Its payload consists of
a static infrared camera, and a pair of color video cameras,
one looking forward and the other – sideways. All cameras
transmit streaming video directly to the hand-held ground controller
for display on an integrated monitor.
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