Report: Army Eyes Northrop-Designed VTOL Drone as Potential RQ-7 Replacement

The U.S. Army is evaluating a vertical takeoff and landing drone Northrop Grumman designed with MartinUAV as the military service considers replacing its RQ-7 Shadow fleet, C4ISRnet reported Sunday.

Both companies developed the V-BAT unmanned aerial system to perform reconnaissance missions without the use of special equipment.

A single controller can operate the drone using a tablet, software and a waypoint navigation technology, the report noted.

The 84-pound drone is powered by a two-stroke engine and designed to fly at a top speed of more than 100 mile sper hour at an altitude of up to 15K feet.

The Army plans to test V-BAT at the services branch’s upcoming Future Tactical UAS demonstration event.

The report added the U.S. Marine Corps currently examines how the system can support its missions.