Insitu


Insitu Inc. is an American company that designs, develops and manufactures unmanned aerial systems. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, and has several offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Their unmanned aerial vehicle platforms—ScanEagle, and RQ-21A Blackjack have logged nearly 1 million operational flight hours as of 2018.

History

Insitu was founded in the early 1990s to develop the Aerosonde concept for long-range weather reconnaissance. The company derives its name from the process of measuring the atmosphere in situ, 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 in 2003, SeaScan turned into ScanEagle, and Insitu focused their efforts on military applications. Insitu was acquired by long-time partner Boeing in 2008. In addition to its defense business, the company announced the establishment of its commercial business unit, Insitu Commercial, in 2016.

Products

Insitu produces the ScanEagle UAV, and the larger RQ-21A Blackjack for military customers. It also produces a commercial variant of RQ-21A Blackjack called the Integrator. 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.

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