The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are looking to boost their fleet of UAVs that can be used for communication and as sensor platforms. Since four years ago, when the Pentagon decided that they are vital for combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, Boeing’s ScanEagle ”dominated” the armed forces, especially the Marines.But the small UAV made its way into the Navy and soon it show its face as a Police officer. In order to cover these purchases,the Pentagon created a non-competitive order allowed when an item is designated as an “urgent operational requirement”, as was the case with Boeing’s first Insitu, in July 2004.

But now an auction takes place,a real military scale auction and it seems that Raytheon has brought to the table its own battle-ready contender, the Killer Bee. It will be officially be unveiled at the Navy League’s 2008 Sea-Air-Space Exposition.The collaboration between Swift Engineering and Raytheon pays of because as we look at the pictures we can see a model ready to be sold, a model that hopes to retire the ScanEagle from the Navy and Marine.

The Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System wants to create a system that can stay airborne for up to 24 hours and can also be launched from a catapult-style mechanism, land without a runway, navigate on its own, and have several UAVs controllable from a single platform. I have to say that ScanEagle looks very good as it can do many of these things and with a couple of upgrades and a good battle record it should put any new design in its rear view mirror.

But Raytheon says that the Killer Bee can carry more bombs is needed and has a bigger range(100 more miles), plus the ability to guide precision munitions with an on-board laser designator and track objects day or night with video and infrared feeds.

We’ll find what the military decided in June or early July.

via PopularMechanics