Northrop Grumman Corp and Martin UAV (a Shield AI company) have completed successful flight testing of a V-BAT unmanned aircraft system (UAS) with new features that include ‘GPS-denied’ navigation and target designation capabilities.

Kenn Todorov, Northrop Grumman’s sector vice president and general manager, said: “The enhanced V-BAT offers a near-zero footprint, flexible vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capability that is based on a platform deployed operationally today, to address the US Army’s Future Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (FTUAS) mission.

“The team brings more than 30 years’ experience in the production, delivery and sustainment of unmanned aircraft systems to support this critical mission.”

The Martin UAV V-BAT is compact, lightweight, simple to operate, and can be set up, launched and recovered by a two-soldier team ‘in confined environments’. The V-BAT is designed to carry a range of interchangeable cargoes, including electro-optical/infra-red (EO/IR), synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and electronic warfare (EW) payloads, depending on mission-specific requirements.