26 Dossier | Insitu ScanEagle VTOL & Integrator VTOL Insitu in the age of VTOL Paired with FLARES, the UAVs are now designated as the ScanEagle VTOL and Integrator VTOL. No modifications or upgrade packages are needed on either craft to form a seamless solution. FLARES is essentially an automated multicopter in its own right, which in takeoff grips an Insitu fixed-wing UAV underneath by the latter’s wing roots. In recovery, it equips a rope to capture the fixed-wing UAV before lowering it to the ground, with the latter remaining very similar to SkyHook, both, for instance, using Differential Global Position System (DGPS) or other satellite positioning, as well as the same software logic to line up the capture rope with the wing of the UAV. “Because SkyHook could be installed and operated on a variety of ship classes, its users could recover ScanEagle [and eventually Integrator] off of ships’ sides, without the hazardous across-deck approach that nets often needed,” Hartley says. In time, some customers notified Insitu that they still had to conduct takeoff and landing with a flat, horizontal approach, which could not tolerate obstacles such as trees or buildings, and by the early 2010s the language of VTOL was promulgating audibly around the industry. Justin Pearce, vice-president of programs, engineering and flight at Insitu, says: “Maintaining the success of ScanEagle and Integrator mandated a VTOL capability that wouldn’t compromise our endurance or payload performance by disrupting the weight, balance and aerodynamics with onboard lift rotors, tiltrotors, and all the extra electrical and electronic systems needed for those to run safely. “Separating the VTOL component away from the fixed-wing UAVs into its own, packetised, independent LRE became the agreed way forward, so we started working with Hood Tech – started by former Insitu founder, Andy von Flotow – on FLARES.” By 2015, FLARES had been prototyped, with the two West Coast companies juggling trade studies into available motors, ESCs, software integrations and other key engineering options. In 2019, serious interest in FLARES came from a long-time military customer for reducing its equipment footprint (compared with the catapult-and-SkyHook approach). Successful trials followed, and as Insitu and Hood Tech had iterated FLARES into a stable configuration (referred to internally as FLARES 2) in both software and mechanical terms by then, initial customer training started soon after in 2020, with the first units fielded in 2021. “That came with our Common Ground Control Station (CCGS), a productionised, reduced-footprint version of our previous ground control systems for ScanEagle, so customers received packouts that fitted in the back of a pickup truck – meaning ScanEagle and its peripherals were packaged into a very SWaP [size, weight and power] optimised UAS that could be launched and recovered pretty much anywhere, and operated from moving vehicles in tactical, mobile situations,” Hartley says. Since 2021, Insitu has continued investing in and rapidly developing FLARES to scale it up for use with Integrator. Rather than simply picking bigger e-motors, ESCs and props, the company opted to start doubling up the drive components, enabling redundancy while still leveraging the vast bodies of legacy test data on the components being carried over into what is today known as FLARES 3. “The larger, Integrator-version FLARES 3 has been in tests for 2.5 years now, with around 300 sorties tallied up on it,” Todorov says. Although FLARES was originally designed as manually operated, today it is highly automated, with only a couple of button pushes required from the operator, and it has gradually overtaken the catapult in standard launch. ScanEagle architecture The ScanEagle airframe was designed from the outset with a cylindrical fuselage, with the shape having been deemed optimal for aerodynamic efficiency and endurance. Typically, the body consists of four sections: from front to back, these are a nose, a main fuselage, a fuel section and a propulsion section. Two wings and two winglets fasten at the sides to complete the airframe. The ScanEagle VTOL’s nose is largely occupied by a gimbal, which traditionally integrates full-motion video cameras. This design choice, combined with June/July 2024 | Uncrewed Systems Technology The ScanEagle’s nose is typically occupied by a gimbal integrating full-motion video cameras
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