Royal Thai Navy will be Provide with RQ-21 Blackjack UAS

26 November 2020

RTN will operate RQ-21 Blackjack UAS (photos : AAG, JUSMAGThai)

JUSMAGTHAI Official Facebook Account (Joint United States Military Advisory Group Thailand) United States Military Advisory Group Published the announcement on 24 November 2020 (2020) that The Royal Thai Navy will be the first user in Asia Pacific for the Boeing Insitu RQ-21 Blackjack Unmanned Aerial System.

According to the Royal Thai Navy, the first commissioned personnel and the first batch of aircraft to travel to perform the RQ-21 Blackjack unmanned aerial vehicle training in the United States have been selected for the time being in the next 5 months.

The announcement is likely to mark the Royal Thai Navy becoming the first customer in the Southeast Asian nation for the US RQ-21 Blackjack style Small Tactical Unmanned Air System style and it is the latest UAV (Unmanned Air Vehicle) that the Royal Thai Navy procures from the Orbiter 3B small tactical unmanned aircraft system from Aeronautics Defense Systems Israel with a rotary-wing UAV (VTOL: Vertical Take-Off and Landing) Camcopter S-100 from Schiebel Austria.

While the Orbiter 3B UAV unmanned aerial vehicle was deployed at the 104th Squadron, Airborne Division 1, Naval Aviation Division. The Royal Thai Fleet 104 Air Squadron, Wing 1, Royal Thai Naval Air Division, Royal Thai Fleet has already been put into operation, for example, to detect illegal fishing.

The Camcopter S-100 UAV Unmanned Aircraft System is likely to be put into service in 2020 and will be deployed in Pak Phanang District. Nakhon Si Thammarat Province in the south of Thailand Including on the frigate fleet of the Royal Thai Navy.

Like the Orbiter 3B UAV, the RQ-21 Blackjack UAV uses an aerial hook-up crane back-landing system. This makes it possible to operate on a surface boat with a deck wider enough than the Orbiter 3 that landed with a parachute not suitable for use at sea.

According to Boeing Insitu, a Boeing company manufacturer, the RQ-21 Blackjack unmanned aerial vehicle has a length of 2.5m, a wingspan of 4.9m, a weight of 37kg, and a maximum takeoff weight of 61kg.

Equipped with an 8hp EFI twin-blade propeller engine, it offers a maximum speed of 90 knots, travel speed of 55 knots, a range of 50nmi, a 16-hour operating time and a maximum airframe of 19,500ft.

In addition to its primary users, the US Navy and the US Marine Corps, the RQ-21 Blackjack UAV is reportedly exported to the Netherlands and Poland, including countries in the Middle East that are not disclosed.

(AAG)