Since the end of the last decade, the American company Boeing Insitu has been working on the RQ-21 Blackjack unmanned aerial vehicle project. This device was developed by order of the Marine Corps and the United States Navy. The main purpose of the machine is to conduct reconnaissance, patrol in designated areas and detect various objects. By now, all design work has been completed and a full-scale construction of new drones is underway.
The RQ-21 UAV was developed under the STUAS (Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System) program. The goal of this program was to create a lightweight drone for use in the ILC and the Navy. This designation affected the requirements for a promising car. So, it was necessary to make a relatively light car capable of patrolling for a long time. In addition, it had to have the smallest possible dimensions for storage on ships. The complex was planned to include a rail launcher for takeoff. Landing was required to be done using a system that makes it possible to do without a large platform.
In addition to Boeing Insitu, several other companies took part in the STUAS program. Raytheon introduced the Killer Bee UAV (now known as the Northrop Grumman Bat), AAI proposed the Aerodyne project, and General Dynamics (USA) and Elbit Systems (Israel) entered the program with the Storm project. The development of preliminary designs and their comparison continued until mid-2010. In June 2010, the customer made his choice. The best of the proposed projects at the Pentagon was considered the Boeing Insitu RQ-21A Integrator (this was the name of the project in the early stages). To complete the project, the developer was allocated $ 43.7 million.
The basis for the RQ-21A project was the previous development of Boeing Insitu - the ScanEagle UAV. The new drone "inherited" a number of units and technical solutions. Nevertheless, the specifics of the requirements of the Marine Corps and the Navy forced a significant redesign of the original project. So, all this led to a radical change in the appearance and layout of the device.
UAV RQ-21 from the point of view of aerodynamics is a two-boom high-wing aircraft with a pushing propeller. The fuselage and wing of the Integrator / Blackjack were made by reworking the corresponding units of the ScanEagle UAV. The new machine has an elongated fuselage of a characteristic shape, inside which the engine and various equipment are installed.
In the middle part of the fuselage, a high-positioned wing with a span of 4, 8 m is fixed. The wing with a large aspect ratio has a small sweep along the leading edge. At the junction of the wing and fuselage, the center section has a characteristic rounded sag. On the endings there are so-called. winglets. The used wing design is designed to provide the highest possible aerodynamic quality, which directly affects the flight data of the device, primarily on the range and duration of the flight.
At the joints of the center section and the wing consoles, two thin beams are attached to the plane, on which the U-shaped tail unit is fixed. The latter consists of two keels with rudders and a high-positioned stabilizer with an elevator. Taking into account the tail booms and empennage, the total length of the RQ-21 UAV is 2.5 m.
In the aft fuselage there is an 8 hp piston engine that uses JP-5 and JP-8 aviation kerosene as fuel. A pushing propeller located between the two tail booms is used as a propeller. The engine used allows the drone to reach a maximum speed of 167 km / h. Cruising speed - 101 km / h. The ceiling reaches 6 km. The available fuel supply is sufficient for patrolling for 16 hours.
The RQ-21 Integrator / Blackjack UAV is light enough. The weight of the empty apparatus is 36 kg. The maximum take-off weight with a payload of 17 kg is 61 kg. The low weight of the car made it possible to get by with a relatively low-power engine.
A gyro-stabilized installation for observation equipment is provided in the nose of the aircraft fuselage. In its standard configuration, it contains an optoelectronic system with a video camera and a thermal imager, as well as a laser rangefinder and an identification system transponder. If necessary, the device can carry additional equipment. To supply power to electronic equipment, the drone is equipped with a 350 W generator.
To facilitate the design of the aircraft, the RQ-21 project had to use special launch and landing devices borrowed from the ScanEagle project. The launch is proposed to be carried out using a rail launcher. The unit is mounted on a towed wheeled chassis. A set of equipment and a rail guide are installed on it. The latter has a movable carriage with mounts for the drone. Before launching, raise the rail to the desired elevation angle and mount the aircraft on the carriage. At the command of the operator, the carriage, driven by a pneumatic drive, accelerates the UAV to takeoff speed, after which it separates from it and rises into the air.
It was proposed to use the Skyhook system as a landing device. It is a towed platform with a luffing boom on which there is a cable. To land the drone, it is necessary to raise the boom and bring the cable to a vertical position. Further, the UAV, using the radio beacon, enters the landing course. The operator or automatics must direct the device to the landing device in such a way as to grab the cable with a special hook mounted on the wing. After that, the cable is stretched and dampens the horizontal speed of the UAV, after which it can be lowered to the ground or to the deck of the ship.
The Boeing Insitu RQ-21A Integrator / Blackjack unmanned aerial system includes five aircraft, two control panels on a wheeled chassis, and towed trailers with a launcher and a Skyhook system. Such a composition of the complex allows it to be used both in the ground forces and in the ILC or the Navy with the basing of equipment on ships.
On July 28, 2012, Boeing Insitu specialists conducted the first test launch of the new drone. The device successfully separated from the launcher, completed the flight program and “landed” using the Skyhook system. In the future, several more test flights were carried out. For example, in early September 2012, the flight duration exceeded one hour for the first time.
In early February 2013, the RQ-21A complex was delivered aboard the USS Mesa Verde (LPT-19) landing craft. On February 10, the first launch from the deck took place. For several months, specialists checked the operation of the unmanned complex when used in the interests of the fleet or the ILC.
On February 19, American specialists began flight tests of a new modification of the drone - RQ-21A Block II. It differs from the basic version in some design features, as well as the equipment used. To monitor the situation, this UAV received an updated optical-electronic system NightEagle, developed as part of the ScanEagle project. The upgraded optoelectronic system has better performance when working at night and in hot climates. Further tests of the RQ-21A and RQ-21A Block II drones were carried out in parallel.
In September 2013, the Integrator project was renamed Blackjack. Soon, at the end of November, the development company received a contract worth $ 8.8 million, the purpose of which was to prepare for the serial production of new UAVs. The first serial RQ-21A complex was transferred to the Marine Corps in January 2014.
The main customer of the new unmanned aerial vehicles should be the USMC. Boeing Insitu is currently fulfilling an order for the Corps for the supply of 32 complexes. Each of them includes five drones. Until 2017, the Marine Corps intends to purchase 100 sets of the Blackjack system. The total order value is expected to remain at $ 560 million.
The US Navy has also expressed its desire to acquire new UAVs. There is an order for 25 complexes with five aircraft each.
Earlier it was reported that in 2014 the Royal Netherlands Army may receive its first RQ-21A Blackjack. This structure expressed its readiness to purchase five unmanned systems. Six more complexes could be acquired by an unnamed Middle Eastern country. There is no information about this contract.
In April 2014, the USMC began operating the RQ-21A UAV in Afghanistan. A complex of five drones, two control units and a set of other equipment was delivered to one of the bases. Blackjack devices were used for reconnaissance and detection of enemy targets. In September, it was reported that over 119 days of operation in Afghanistan, the total flight time of unmanned aerial vehicles was 1,000 hours. The RQ-21A complex has proven itself well, as a result of which its operation in Afghanistan continued.
