Skylynx provides a stable airborne platform capable of carrying payloads weighing up to 70 pounds. It is designed for reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition missions using a high-resolution electro-optical/infrared imager, IR marker, and laser rangefinder integrated on one gimballed set.

"By putting more capability on the aircraft and maintaining a small logistics footprint, we have developed a system that accomplishes today's Marine Corps mission and has the flexibility to accomplish future missions, ultimately keeping our Marines out of harm's way," said Tom Herring, vice president of Integrated Solutions for BAE Systems.

"Our engineers were mindful of the Marine Corps' unique needs and responded to our customer with a system that will perform to their demanding requirements."

The Skylynx UAS can "plug and play" with various other mission payloads and remain airborne for up to 16 hours, longer than competing offerings. It's also easy to launch, operate, recover, support, and transport: The full Skylynx system, consisting of three air vehicles, ground control station, launcher, and remote receive terminal, plus six Marines, can be transported by two CH-46 helicopters.

Proposals to provide a concept demonstrator UAS were due to the Marine Corps May 11.

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