Soldiers Continue to Test MQ-1C Gray Eagle UAS

By Matthew Hogan

The following is a release from David Vergun and the U.S. Army:

Soldiers have put the MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft system, or UAS, through its paces this month using advanced ground controls.

The exercise, conducted at the National Training Center, or NTC, on Fort Irwin, Calif., involved the One System Remote Video Terminal, or OSRVT, which allows Soldiers to take control of the Gray Eagle payload, said Col. Thomas von Eschenbach, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command capability manager for UAS.

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The testing was conducted by Soldiers of F Company, 227th Aviation, based out of Fort Hood, Texas. It involved the UAS level of Interoperability 3, which means Soldiers can take control of the payload, Eschenbach said. None of the testing, however, involved manned-unmanned teaming, which often involves UASs and Apache helicopters.

Eschenbach and others spoke from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., during a media roundtable, June 9. Edwards was the site where the Gray Eagles launched to the training area on NTC.

The exercise did not just benefit the Fort Hood Soldiers from a training perspective.

Since OSRVT is a program of record, it needed to undergo what is known as an …read more

Source:: Tactical Life