Insitu
Insitu Inc. is an American company that designs, develops and manufactures unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, and has several offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.[3] Their unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms—ScanEagle, and RQ-21A Blackjack have logged nearly 1 million operational flight hours as of February 2018.[4]
Type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Unmanned aerial systems |
Founded | 1994 |
Headquarters | Bingen, Washington, US |
Key people | Esina Alic (President & CEO) |
Products |
|
Number of employees | c. 1,052 (2016) |
Parent | Boeing Defense, Space & Security |
Website | insitu |
Footnotes / references [1][2][3] |
History
Insitu was founded in the early 1990s to develop the Aerosonde concept for long-range weather reconnaissance. The company derives its name from the process of measuring the atmosphere in situ (in place), as opposed to remotely, by satellite. At the end of the 1990s the company transitioned to the SeaScan concept for imaging reconnaissance from tuna seiners. With the onset of the Iraq War in 2003, SeaScan turned into ScanEagle, and Insitu focused their efforts on military applications. Insitu was acquired by long-time partner Boeing in 2008. In 2015, it acquired the 2d3 company.[5][6] In addition to its defense business, the company announced the establishment of its commercial business unit, Insitu Commercial, in 2016.
Products
Insitu produces the ScanEagle UAV, and the larger RQ-21A Blackjack for military customers. It also produces a commercial variant of RQ-21A Blackjack called the Integrator. Insitu's UAVs are launched via a pneumatic catapult launcher and are recovered using the SkyHook recovery system.[3] Insitu also provides services and training for its UAVs.
Insitu customer documentation is written to the ASD-STE100 standard.
Gallery
- Insitu’s Common Open-mission Management Command and Control (ICOMC2) ground control station (GCS) is the core system used for controlling Integrator and providing access for total payload control
- A ScanEagle unmanned aircraft is captured by Insitu’s patented SkyHook recovery system
- An Integrator UAV takes flight
- ScanEagle prepares for launch
- ScanEagle is pictured aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter STRATTON, which was the first U.S. Coast Guard Cutter to deploy with a small unmanned aerial system (UAS) for an entire patrol
References
- "Insitu, Inc. Contact Information". Retrieved 18 June 2008.
- "Insitu - Insitu Team". Retrieved 11 September 2018.
- Corfield, Gareth (18 May 2018). "Eye in the sea skies: Insitu flies Scaneagle 3 UAV in first public demo". The Register. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
- Huber, Mark. "ScanEagle UAS Offers New Capabilities". AINOnline. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
- "Insitu History page". 2015.
- "Boeing Acquires 2d3 Sensing to Enhance ISR on UAS". Avionics. 2015-04-13. Retrieved 2020-05-28.