Textron's Aerosonde unmanned aircraft system was recently cleared by the Navy to compete for sea-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance task orders in U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Central Command and U.S. European Command. There are now two companies who can bid on the contract vehicle -- Textron and Insitu. This is the first time the contractor-owned/contractor-operated Aerosonde was cleared to compete for the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract worth up to $1.7 billion, David Phillips, vice president of small/medium endurance unmanned systems...
