AAI to Reduce Audio Signature of RQ-7B Shadow V2 UAV

AAI Corporation — a unit within Textron Systems — has won a 7.69 million contract from the U.S. Army to reduce the audio signature of their RQ-7B Shadow V2 (RQ-7BV2) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

As IHS Jane’s reports, a Department of Defense news release states that AAI will “develop, verify, and validate noise signature reduction design improvements for the unmanned aerial vehicle engines Limited 1102 and Block 3 propulsion system engines. The modification also covers efforts required to update software and integrate the small mission computer into the RQ-7BV2.”

Work on this contract will be conducted in Hunt Valley, Maryland, where AAI is based. The estimated completion date is Sept. 20, 2015.

The new RQ-7BV2 Shadow UAV will come with an extended 6 m wing, a POP300D payload from Israel Aerospace Industries’ Tamam division, UEL’s 741-1102 engine, and a new communications relay system, IHS Jane’s said.

According to IHS Jane’s, the Army wants to upgrade the RQ-7B’s UEL AR741-1101 and AR741-1102 Wankel engine as a result of losing several UAVs in Afghanistan due to engine failure.