UAV Floats Like A Butterfly... Stings Like A KillerBee

Raytheon Company's KillerBee unmanned aircraft system recently demonstrated its interoperability, integration and functionality as an end-to-end UAS combat system.

During the demonstration, a Raytheon flight operations crew simulated a combat environment by delivering the KillerBee system to a remote location via Humvees. In less than 45 minutes, the crew set up the system and launched the UAS. The team then executed the operational scenario and safely retrieved the UAS with a unique net-recovery system.

The KillerBee is designed to provide the US Navy and US Marine Corps with a UAS for their respective Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Tier II missions. A mini-common data link enables KillerBee interoperability with both US Navy and US Marine Corps intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems.

"The KillerBee is at a point where we can demonstrate an integrated combat capability," said Ken Pedersen, Raytheon Missile Systems' vice president of Advanced Programs. "Combined with Raytheon's Universal Control System, a first-of-its-kind unmanned aircraft flight station, the KillerBee can reliably insert ISR into the battlespace and then quickly deliver actionable data to a combatant commander."

The simulated mission was conducted using Marine Corps combat operations center hardware, and an operator controlled the KillerBee with a variant of Raytheon's Universal Control System. The KillerBee system received target input from a Javelin Command Launch Unit and an Improved Target Acquisition System from Raytheon's TOW (Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided) missile.

The KillerBee electro-optical/infrared sensor was cued to the targets, prior to providing target confirmation back to the CLU and ITAS. The system then selected a target and cued the Javelin CLU operator through a Command and Control Personal Computer.

FMI: www.raytheon.com/