Insitu Inc. is an American company that designs, develops and manufactures

unmanned aerial system An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...

s (UAS). The company is a

wholly owned subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

The Boeing Company The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

, and has several offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Its

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...

(UAV) platforms— ScanEagle, Integrator, Integrator Extended Range (ER), ScanEagle 3, and RQ-21A Blackjack, have logged 1.3 million operational flight hours .

History

Insitu was founded in 1994 by engineers interested in creating miniature robotic aircraft. It went on to develop the Aerosonde concept for long-range weather reconnaissance. The company derives its name from the process of measuring the atmosphere in situ (in place), as opposed to remotely, by satellite. At the end of the 1990s the company transitioned to the SeaScan concept for imaging reconnaissance from tuna

seiners A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to fishing, catch fish and other valuable nektonic aquatic animals (e.g. shrimps/prawns, krills, coleoids, etc.) in the sea, lake or river. Humans have used different kinds of surface vessels in commercial ...

. With the onset of the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

in 2003, SeaScan turned into ScanEagle, and Insitu focused their efforts on military applications. Insitu was acquired by long-time partner

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

in 2008. In 2015, it acquired the 2d3 company. In addition to its defense business, the company announced the establishment of its commercial business unit, Insitu Commercial, in 2016. Insitu was sanctioned by the Chinese government on December 27, 2024 due to arm sales to Taiwan.

Products

Insitu, with the U.S. Navy, developed the RQ-21A Blackjack to fill the requirement for a small tactical UAS capable of operating from both land and sea. The Integrator is the standard variant of the RQ-21A. Insitu's UAVs are launched via a pneumatic catapult launcher and are recovered using the SkyHook recovery system. Insitu also provides services and training for its UAVs. Insitu customer documentation is written to the

ASD-STE100 ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English (STE) is a controlled natural language designed to simplify and clarify technical documentation. It was originally developed during the 1980's by the European Association of Aerospace Industries (AECMA), at ...

standard.

Gallery

File:Insitu ICOMC2.jpg, Insitu's Common Open-mission Management Command and Control (ICOMC2) ground control station (GCS) is the core system used for controlling Integrator and providing access for total payload control File:Insitu ScanEagle Recovery.jpg, A ScanEagle unmanned aircraft is captured by Insitu's patented SkyHook recovery system File:Insitu Integrator Flight.jpg, An Integrator UAV takes flight File:Insitu ScanEagle Launch.jpg, ScanEagle prepares for launch File:Insitu ScanEagle USCG.jpg, ScanEagle is pictured aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton, which was the first U.S. Coast Guard Cutter to deploy fully equipped with a small UAS for an entire patrol.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Aerospace companies of the United States American entities subject to Chinese sanctions Defense companies of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Washington (state) Boeing mergers and acquisitions Transportation companies based in Washington (state)