RQ-21A

Program of Record for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps

Expeditionary, payload flexible and the most versatile UAS in its class.

Modularity

Supports wide range of missions including electronic warfare, ISR, and communications relay

Flexibility

Runway-independent design easily operates from land or at sea

Persistence

Range and endurance enable persistent detection, classification, and tracking

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Specifications

Size and Weight

Length: 8.2 ft / 2.5 m
Wingspan: 15.7 ft / 4.8 m
Max takeoff weight: 135 lb / 61 kg
Max payload weight*: 39 lb / 17.7 kg

*Reduces endurance

Standard Payload Configuration

Electro-optic imager: -1.1°–25° optical field of view; 4x digital zoom
Mid-wave infrared imager: -2°–25° field of view
Laser rangefinder
IR marker
Communications relay and AIS

Performance

Endurance: Up to 16 hours
Ceiling: up to 20,000 ft / 6,096 m
Max horizontal speed: 90+ knots / 46.3 m/s
Cruise speed: 60 knots
Engine: 8 HP reciprocating engine with EFI; JP-5, JP-8

Program Status

17,000+ – flight hours

14 – deployments completed

8 – maritime MEU deployments

6 – land-based deployments

31 – systems delivered to USN and USMC

4 – international customers via NAVAIR FMS program

U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Adam Dublinske

Flexibility

The RQ-21A Blackjack was developed in partnership with the U.S. Department of the Navy to fill the requirement for a small tactical unmanned aircraft system capable of operating from land and sea.

Communication

Encrypted command and control datalink enables a line-of-sight operating radius beyond 50 nm / 92.6 km, with electromagnetic shielding to support customized communications and radio frequency sensor payloads.

Mobility

The system is transportable via ship, cargo aircraft (V-22, C-130 or larger), cargo helicopters (CH-47, CH-53) and vehicles such as HMMWVs or JLTVs.

Customizable Payload Suite

Blackjack’s open payload architecture can be customized with imagers, communication systems, electronic warfare payloads, signals intelligence capabilities and other tools to give the warfighter a look ahead in operational environments.

Interoperability

Compliant with relevant NATO and industry standards to allow interoperability across joint, coalition, and allied forces.

Proven Experience

Our systems are backed by more than 1.3 million operational hours and deployed worldwide with international defense, government and commercial customers with the most demanding mission requirements.