In its operational degree, each US Army infantry platoon will be equipped with at least one reconnaissance drone unit. And the drone in question is an RQ-28A mini quadcopter drone. In appearance there is nothing too special about the RQ-28A, moreover the base of this drone is the X2D commercial drone produced by Skydio.
However, because it is a US Army standard, it is interesting to review the RQ-28A Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) quadcopter drone system.
Quoted from TheDrive.com (7/12/2022), it was stated that the US Army had officially completed an evaluation for the use of the California-based Skydio-based RQ-28A quadcopter drone. For information, Skydio won the US Army SRR competition in February this year.
The RQ-28A is the first quadcopter drone program for the US Army, and this drone will be widely distributed, considering it will be equipped at the infantry platoon level.
The RQ-28A test suite was completed in early November by the US Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Project Office with the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning in Georgia.
The dimensions of the drone when folded are 30.23 x 14 x 9.1 cm, and when opened – 66.2 x 56.8 x 21 cm. The RQ-28A has a maximum take-off weight of less than 1.5 kg. The frame of this drone is made of carbon fiber.
It should be noted, the RQ-28A is not a drone with attack or kamikaze capabilities. The dimensions of the drone when folded are 30.23 x 14 x 9.1 cm, and when unfolded – 66.2 x 56.8 x 21 cm. The RQ-28A has a maximum take-off weight of less than 1.5 kg. The frame of this drone is made of carbon fiber.
As you might have guessed, the RQ-28A is not focused on attacking the enemy. US infantry will use the new drones for tactical reconnaissance purposes. The civilian variant, the Skydio X2D, adopts a 12 Mpix resolution camera with 16x zoom and a FLIR thermal imager. It is possible that there will be additional imaging features in the military variant (RQ-28A).
On battery power. RQ-28A can fly as far as 6 km with a flight duration of more than 30 minutes. This drone control unit utilizes a touch screen console with a size of 6.8 inches.
Skydio's SRR RQ-28A contract with the US Army is worth a total of US$99.8 million per year over the next five years of procurement. The US Army says that 480 RQ-28As are scheduled to arrive for use by US Army personnel next year.
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