Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has successfully demo'd a communications relay payload for a government customer during multiple flights of its Bat unmanned aircraft system (UAS).

Ideally suited to an irregular warfare environment, Bat offers real-time ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance), communications and strike capabilities in a system that is affordable, organic, and persistent. Bat is runway independent, fully autonomous, and can be launched and recovered from land, air and sea. The flight demonstrations occurred June 23 to 26, 2009, at Naval Air Facility El Centro, Calif. Northrop Grumman also demonstrated the Bat system's reliability with five flights over the four-day period. Northrop Grumman is integrating several new payloads, a common ground control architecture, and air vehicle upgrades that include a new engine, a new launcher capability, and several air vehicle capability enhancements. The communications relay payload was demo'd on an air vehicle with a wingspan of 10 feet. The Bat product line features wingspans ranging from 6.5 to 33.2 feet.