Marine Corps set to deploy next-generation unmanned aircraft.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew

The Marine Corps and Navy will launch their newest unmanned aerial system, the RQ-21A Blackjack, from a ship this spring for the first time, and are looking into developing pocket-sized reconnaissance drones, a service aviation official said.

At 140 pounds, the new Blackjack is considered a small tactical unmanned aerial system designed to support infantry regiments.

"Blackjack is still in test and low-rate initial production, but will provide persistent land-based and maritime, tactical [reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition] data collection and dissemination capabilities," Col. Eldon Metzger, program manager for the Navy and Marine Corps small tactical unmanned air systems program office at Naval Air Systems Command, said in an email.

"RQ-21A will bring the Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Expeditionary Units a dedicated [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] system capable of delivering intelligence products directly to the tactical commander in real time," he said.

Blackjack is slated for its first maritime deployment this spring, he added.

The aircraft, manufactured by Boeing Insitu, has already seen action in Afghanistan. A Marine UAS squadron took one system there in spring 2014 for operational land-based tests.

The twin-tailed drone is eight-feet long and has a 16-foot wingspan, according to NAVAIR press releases.

It fits the service's expeditionary nature by not requiring a runway for launch or recovery, Metzger said.

It is the first unmanned aerial vehicle specifically designed for the Marine Corps. Other such aircraft currently in the service's inventory were off-the-shelf products adapted for expeditionary applications.

The Backjack is intended to replace the Aerosonde UAS and the Boeing Insitu Scan Eagle. The two companies are providing ISR services to the Marine Corps using their off-the-shelf UAVs. Aerosonde is a business unit of AAI-Textron Systems.

Insitu Boeing began work on the Blackjack program in 2010. The program of record entered its test-and-evaluation and low-rate initial production phase in early 2014.

The aircraft can fly up to 16 hours at 19,500 feet, and cruises at about 60 knots, specifications on the Boeing Insitu website said. The contract called for 56 Backjack systems, with the Marine Corps receiving 32 of them and the Navy the rest. The Navy placed a $41 million low-rate initial production order for three more systems in late December.

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