LEMV and UAS get a mention, Lt. Gen Lennox AUSA

Probably by this summer, the Army will be floating a new idea past the troops for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Not a program of record, but something the Army expects to test in Afghanistan this summer, the Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle. It’s a hybrid air vehicle — like a blimp — that can carry multiple ISR payloads for more than 21 days at altitudes greater than 22,000 feet. While discussing efforts to resource and transform Army aviation during the Association of the United States Army Aviation Symposium and Exposition just outside Washington, D.C., Jan. 12, Lt. Gen. Robert P. Lennox, deputy chief of staff, Army G-8, touched on the future of vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial systems. The general said Army aviation has a “good path” for vertical UAS. “We are using overseas contingency operations dollars and we are hustling systems to theater and we hope to learn from that.” The LEMV, developed by Northrop Grumman, “has got some real promise,” the general said. “We will see the value of the persistent stare that that gives us.” Other VTOL capabilities the Army is looking at include the Boeing A160 Hummingbird. “It’s wonderful not being tied to a long runway,” […]
LEMV and UAS get a mention, Lt. Gen Lennox AUSA