Mary-Louise Hoffman
Raytheon has built an unmanned air system for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in an effort to help agency and company researchers study hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean.
NOAA and Raytheon launched an upgraded version of the company’s Coyote UAS from a P-3 Orion aircraft over Avon Park, Florida, during a recent calibration flight test, the company said Wednesday.
A team of Raytheon and NOAA scientists perfomed the test in preparation for Coyote’s deployment in this year’s Atlantic hurricane season.
Thomas Bussing, vice president of advanced missile systems at Raytheon, said the company modernized the drone to operate 50 miles away from a host aircraft for up to one hour.
Raytheon unit Sensintel designed the Coyote to be launched from a common launch tube or an A-size sonobuoy tube and to gather intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data.
NOAA said in June 2015 it plans to buy up to three Coyotes from Raytheon for the agency’s storm data gathering and research efforts.
