Insitu Inc. is an American company that designs, develops and manufactures
unmanned aerial system
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...
s (UAS). The company is a
wholly owned subsidiary
A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...
of
Boeing Defense, Space & Security
Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) is a division (business unit) of The Boeing Company based in Arlington, Virginia. It is responsible for defense and aerospace products and services. It was formerly known as Boeing Integrated Defense System ...
, and has several offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
Its
unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controll ...
(UAV) platforms—
ScanEagle
The Boeing Insitu ScanEagle is a small, long-endurance, low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) built by Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing, and is used for reconnaissance. The ScanEagle was designed by Insitu based on the Insitu SeaScan, a co ...
, Integrator, Integrator Extended Range (ER), ScanEagle 3 and
RQ-21A Blackjack, have logged 1.3 million operational flight hours .
History
Insitu was founded in 1994 by engineers interested in creating miniature robotic aircraft. It went on to develop the Aerosonde concept for long-range weather reconnaissance. The company derives its name from the process of measuring the atmosphere in situ (in place), as opposed to remotely, by satellite. At the end of the 1990s the company transitioned to the SeaScan concept for imaging reconnaissance from tuna
seiners. With the onset of the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror
, image ...
in 2003, SeaScan turned into ScanEagle, and Insitu focused their efforts on military applications. Insitu was acquired by long-time partner
Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...
in 2008.
In 2015, it acquired the
2d3
2d3 Sensing is an American motion imagery software company based in Irvine, California. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of UK-based OMG plc. Using structure from motion, the company’s suite of products can extract information from images or vid ...
company.
In addition to its defense business, the company announced the establishment of its commercial business unit, Insitu Commercial, in 2016.
Products
Insitu, with the U.S. Navy, developed the
RQ-21A Blackjack to fill the requirement for a small tactical UAS capable of operating from both land and sea.
The Integrator is the standard variant of the RQ-21A. Insitu's UAVs are launched via a pneumatic catapult launcher and are recovered using the SkyHook recovery system.
Insitu also provides services and training for its UAVs.
Insitu customer documentation is written to the
ASD-STE100 standard.
Gallery
File:Insitu ICOMC2.jpg, Insitu’s Common Open-mission Management Command and Control (ICOMC2) ground control station (GCS) is the core system used for controlling Integrator and providing access for total payload control
File:Insitu ScanEagle Recovery.jpg, A ScanEagle unmanned aircraft is captured by Insitu’s patented SkyHook recovery system
File:Insitu Integrator Flight.jpg, An Integrator UAV takes flight
File:Insitu ScanEagle Launch.jpg, ScanEagle prepares for launch
File:Insitu ScanEagle USCG.jpg, ScanEagle is pictured aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter STRATTON, which was the first U.S. Coast Guard Cutter to deploy with a small unmanned aerial system (UAS) for an entire patrol
References
External links
*{{Official, https://www.insitu.com/
Aerospace companies of the United States
Defense companies of the United States
Companies based in Washington (state)