The U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy have announced that they will be purchasing a number of ScanEagles. These are 40-pound vertical-takeoff Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with electro-optical infrared sensors that can beam images from 5000 feet. They are designed for continuous missions in excess of 15 hours, with a cruising speed of 50 knots at an altitude of more than 15,000 feet. This UAV can be launched and retrieved over any terrain. The ScanEagle 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.

The system includes a UAV, a Sky Wedge hydraulic launcher, Sky Hook retrieving system and a mobile ground control element. The ScanEagles is equipped with a nose-mounted inertial-stabilized camera turret, designed to track an object of interest for extended periods of time. The gimbal carries either a zoom CCD or an IR sensor. The U.S. Navy, Marines and Air Force have flown ScanEagles more than 80,000 hours since the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. With no net and no runway, these UAVs can operate from a field. This also makes them well suited for shipborne operation.

The services currently lease ScanEagles from Insitu, their manufacturer, based in Bingen, Wash.

Currently, the Marine Corps has four ScanEagle units in Iraq and Afghanistan where they have proved effective in IED detection, running up and down the roads and spotting explosive devices before the Marines get to them.

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