RDE and Teledyne Brown Alliance Targets U.S. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Market
01 December 2004 10:28
Bremen/ Huntsville, Alabama (USA) - Rheinmetall Defence Electronics GmbH and Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, have formed a groundbreaking alliance to market a family of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to the U.S. government.
Teledyne Brown will adapt Rheinmetall's proven UAV system to provide the U.S. with reliable, superior and flexible UAV systems designed for real-time reconnaissance and surveillance as well as armed reconnaissance.
Under the lead of Teledyne Brown, Prospector is the premier system being developed for the American market on the basis of the German UAV system KZO. It is a multipurpose reconnaissance system that requires no runway for launch, allows for changeable payloads in the field and provides high precision navigation and targeting.
A second system, Thunder, bases on the UCAV system Taifun of Rheinmetall Defence Electronics and provides the ability to oversee the battlefield, identify targets and engage targets with weapons on board.
"For us, as the main supplier of UAV systems for the German Forces, the alliance between Teledyne Brown, with a long history in UAV systems, and Rheinmetall Defence Electronics is an important milestone which forms the basis to establish joint activities for new market opportunities and to combine the expertise from both companies to the benefit of the customer", said Georg Morawitz, member of the management board of Rheinmetall Defence Electronics. "With this cooperation we are taking an important step forward to the US market and to increasing US-German industry relations."
"This alliance positions Teledyne Brown as an available domestic manufacturing source for the U.S. government," said Jim Link, president, Teledyne Brown Engineering. "We are taking an established UAV product line by Rheinmetall and adapting it to deliver UAVs that our government can use now in current engagements and in the future to protect our soldiers and defend our land. We see our participation in the American UAV market as a continuation of the long Teledyne heritage in UAV systems."
Teledyne Brown's UAVs are fully ground and C-130 transportable and integrate with existing and projected command-and-control components. Since these UAVs use either a catapult or rocket-assisted launch, an improved surface is not required.
The UAVs will be produced at Teledyne Brown manufacturing facilities in Huntsville, AL. The first US made system is anticipated being available in 2005.
For more information on this company:
RHEINMETALL DEFENCE ELECTRONICS - UAV Systems for Reconnaissance, Combat Support and Attack
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