Australian navy starts operating Integrator UAS for surveillance
The Royal Australian Navy's 822X Squadron flies Insitu Pacific's Integrator UAS (pictured). (Commonwealth of Australia)
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has started operating Boeing subsidiary Insitu Pacific's Integrator unmanned aircraft system (UAS), the service's newest UAS.
The Department of Defence (DoD) announced on 3 October that the RAN's 822X Squadron conducted the first launch and recovery of an Integrator UAS from Jervis Bay airfield located in the southeastern coast of Australia. 822X Squadron is the RAN's first dedicated squadron responsible for UAS operations.
Integrator will enhance the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities of the RAN, the DoD said. It added that Integrator is a fixed-wing platform with a maximum speed of more than 90 kt and an endurance of up to 16 hours.
According to Insitu Pacific, Integrator has a length of 2.5 m, a wingspan of 4.8 m, a service ceiling of 19,500 ft, and a maximum payload capacity of 18 kg. The platform is equipped with different sensors including an electro-optic (EO) imager, a midwave infrared (IR) imager, an IR marker, a laser rangefinder, and a laser designator if required by the user.
The Integrator UAS deployed by the RAN “flew the skies of Jervis Bay for 3.1 hours incrementally validating approach profiles, terrain clearances, and communication links”, before returning to the airfield for recovery, the DoD said.
It is unclear how many Integrators have been delivered to the RAN. The DoD and Insitu Pacific had not responded to Janes request for more information at the time of publication.
According to Janes data, the RAN also operates Insitu Pacific's ScanEagle mini unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
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