The United States Air Force BATMAV program with AeroVironment`s Wasp III Micro Air Vehicle has received approval for Full Rate Production. The Wasp is a small, portable, reliable, and rugged unmanned aerial platform designed for front-line day/night reconnaissance and surveillance. Wasp is 16 inches (38 cm) long, has a of wingspan of 29 inches (72 cm), weighs just 430 grams (around one pound), can be controlled manually or programmed for GPS-based autonomous navigation and can carry interchangeable targeting payload modules including an infrared camera, along with two integrated color cameras that transmit streaming video directly to the hand-held ground controller.
The hand-launched Wasp III has a 5 km range (Line-of-Sight), operates continuously for approximately 45 minutes at 40-65 km/h and to altitudes of 1,000 ft (300 m). There is also a water landing version in development. For system interoperability, Wasp uses the same advanced technology found in other AeroVironment small UAS systems, such as Raven RQ11-B, Swift and Puma - which recently set a 7 hour flight record for fuel cell powered MAVs - and is controllable through a common Ground Control Station. In November 2007 the U.S. Marine Corps awarded AV a $19.3 million contract for Wasp III MAV systems.
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