Textron Systems Corporation, a Textron Inc. company, has been awarded a task order worth up to $47 million by the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) to provide COCO (Contractor-Owned, Contractor-Operated) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) services to three Independence-Class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) deploying to the U.S. 5th Fleet. This contract builds on a 2023 agreement to support the U.S. Navy LCSs, increasing the number of Navy ships using Textron’s Aerosonde UAS to 10.
Under the new task order, Textron Systems will deploy its Aerosonde UAS, along with expert personnel, to provide mission overwatch and extended-range intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) services. The Aerosonde system will be equipped with enhanced mission payloads and will be utilized on LCSs, as well as the U.S. Navy’s Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB)-4, ESB-5, and two DDG-class destroyers. In December 2023, the Aerosonde UAS successfully completed its inaugural operational flight aboard the USS Savannah (LCS-28), marking a significant milestone for the system.
“Textron Systems has delivered COCO services with our Aerosonde UAS for over a decade, demonstrating the flexibility and value a model like this brings to the services,” said David Phillips, Senior Vice President Air, Land and Sea Systems. “Because we are managing the full life cycle of the system, including technology integration, human factors, spares and repairs, employing the Aerosonde UAS enables the Navy customer to focus solely on their mission. We extend the customer’s capabilities across the mission packages of each ship reliably and quickly.”
The Aerosonde UAS offers multi-mission capability built upon a family of systems which have amassed over 700,000 flight hours over more than 10 years. The system is equipped for multiple payload configurations with both vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and fixed-wing options.
