AAI Corp., a subsidiary of Textron Systems, Hunt Valley, Maryland, has been awarded a contract to supply the Aerosonde Mk4.7 unmanned aerial system to both Nigeria and Uganda.
The contract announced by the Pentagon on May 8 involves supplying three Aerosonde Mk4.7 UAV systems with spare parts, logistics support, new equipment training, and two field service representatives worth $25,610,000 firm-fixed-price to Nigeria.
The bids for the business were solicited through the internet says the Pentagon, and the work will be performed in Nigeria, with an estimated completion date of September. 30, 2021.
Likewise, Uganda will get two Aerosonde Mk4.7 UAV systems alongside the required equipment, spares and training like Nigeria, totalling $20,780,000 firm-fixed-price. Uganda’s estimated completion date is slated for September. 30, 2022.
This UAV sale to Nigeria comes at a time when the country is engaging in a decisive battle against terror groups within the country’s borders, The Aerosonde Mk4.7 UAV will provide timely intelligence to ground troops. The war in Nigeria’s northeastern region has shown that the acquisition and rapid dissemination of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) information which can be provided by drones is an essential factor in achieving a decisive success in conflicts.
The Aerosonde UAV is designed for expeditionary land- and sea-based operations and equipped for simultaneous day/night full-motion video, communications relay, signals intelligence, and a customer-selected payload in a single flight, says Textron Systems.
The UAV system is field-proven with more than 300,000 flight hours, with Multi-intelligence (multi-INT) payloads, i.e., Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), electronic warfare (EW) and communications relay, Ad-hoc networking (MANET), Signals intelligence (SIGINT), Communications intelligence (COMINT), 3D mapping, and automatic identification systems (AIS) in a single flight.
With a payload of up to 9.1 kg, the UAS has a range of 140 km (75 nm) and an endurance of 14+ hours depending on the variant. It also features an easy-to-use launch and recovery trailer for constrained land and shipboard operations