Unmanned Air Vehicle Uses BSI Adhesives - RQ-21A Blackjack

The Insitu Inc.-built RQ-21A Blackjack is a larger twin-tailed follow-on to the ScanEagle unmanned air vehicle. The system contains five air vehicles, two ground control systems, and launch and recovery equipment. Marine Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 1 is conducting ground and shipboard testing on Blackjack. After completion, the government and Insitu team will transition the system to Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron (VMU) 2, located at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C. for operational use.

At eight feet long and with a wingspan of 16 feet, Blackjack provides intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communications relay to the warfighter on land and at sea. The air vehicle’s open-architecture configuration can integrate new payloads quickly and can carry sensor payloads as heavy as 25 pounds. Standard payloads include day and night full-motion video cameras, an infrared marker, a laser range finder, a communications relay package and automatic identification system receivers. Of course, BSI adhesives are used in the manufacture of the Blackjack.