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Special Operations
Special Ops. Command to Purchase ‘Video by the Hour’ Services From Boeing
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By Sandra I. Erwin
The U.S. Special Operations Command awarded the Boeing Co. a contract that could be worth up to $250 million over the next five years to provide live video streaming from the Scan Eagle surveillance unmanned aircraft.
Unlike the Air Force, which owns and operates its own fleet of Predator UAVs, SOCOM has chosen to outsource the work and purchase “video by the hour” services from Boeing.
Boeing’s subsidiary InSitu Inc. is the manufacturer of the Scan Eagle aircraft. Under the agreement with SOCOM, which was announced April 29, Boeing will supply the aircraft, ground stations, operators and maintainers, said company spokesman Bob Algarotti.
Boeing has a similar agreement with the U.S. Navy, he said. The company operates Scan Eagles aboard Navy ships such as frigates and destroyers. For its SOCOM customers, Boeing will set up the UAV surveillance operations from secure land bases at locations yet to be determined by the command.
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