The U.S. Army is installing a lightweight laser designator for its RQ-7B Shadow 200 UAV.

This designator enables the UAV to designate targets for laser guided smart bombs. This is useful for when more accuracy is needed than GPS guided weapons (which hit within a 30 foot circle, while laser guidance is good for 5-6 feet.) Even with just the GPS and laser range finder, the Shadow can spot for the large number of GPS guided munitions. These include the hundred pound 155mm Excalibur (with 20 pounds of explosives), the 600 pound MLRS rocket (with 150 pounds of explosives) or the 1.5 ton ATACMS rocket (with 500 pounds of explosives.) This has proved enormously useful, as the Shadow can remain in the air long enough to observe an enemy activity and bringing an army shell or rocket to bear quickly to deal with the situation. Each 350 pound Shadow 200 UAV costs US$500,000, and remain aloft for 5.5 hours per sortie. A day camera and night vision camera is carried on each aircraft. Able to fly as high as 15,000 feet (or more), the Shadow can go into hostile territory and stay at a high enough altitude (more than 10,000 feet) to be safe from hostile rifle and machine-gun fire. The Shadow UAVs can carry 56 pounds of equipment. The UAV is 11 feet long and has a wingspan of 12.75 feet and a range of approximately 50 kilometers.