Insitu

American unmanned aerial systems company

Not to be confused with the Latin phrase: in situ.

Insitu, Inc.

Company type| Subsidiary
Industry| Unmanned aerial systems
Founded| 1994; 31 years ago (1994)
Headquarters| Bingen, Washington, US

Key people

| Diane Rose (president & CEO)
Products|

* Unmanned aerial vehicles
* payloads
* software

Number of employees

| ~1,000 (2022)[1]
Parent| The Boeing Company
Website| insitu.com
Footnotes / references
[2][3][4]

Insitu Inc. is an American company that designs, develops and manufactures unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company,[5][6] and has several offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.[4] Its unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms—ScanEagle, Integrator, Integrator Extended Range (ER), ScanEagle 3, and RQ-21A Blackjack, have logged 1.3 million operational flight hours as of May 2022[update].[7]

## History

[edit]

Insitu was founded in 1994 by engineers interested in creating miniature robotic aircraft.[8] It went on to develop the Aerosonde concept for long-range weather reconnaissance. The company derives its name from the process of measuring the atmosphere in situ (in place), as opposed to remotely, by satellite.[citation needed] At the end of the 1990s the company transitioned to the SeaScan concept for imaging reconnaissance from tuna seiners. With the onset of the Iraq War in 2003, SeaScan turned into ScanEagle, and Insitu focused their efforts on military applications. Insitu was acquired by long-time partner Boeing in 2008.[9]

In 2015, it acquired the 2d3 company.[10][11] In addition to its defense business, the company announced the establishment of its commercial business unit, Insitu Commercial, in 2016.[citation needed]

Insitu was sanctioned by the Chinese government on December 27, 2024 due to arm sales to Taiwan.[12]

## Products

[edit]

Insitu, with the U.S. Navy, developed the RQ-21A Blackjack to fill the requirement for a small tactical UAS capable of operating from both land and sea.[13] The Integrator is the standard variant of the RQ-21A. Insitu's UAVs are launched via a pneumatic catapult launcher and are recovered using the SkyHook recovery system.[4] Insitu also provides services and training for its UAVs.

Insitu customer documentation is written to the ASD-STE100 standard.

## Gallery

[edit]

* Insitu's Common Open-mission Management Command and Control (ICOMC2) ground control station (GCS) is the core system used for controlling Integrator and providing access for total payload control

* A ScanEagle unmanned aircraft is captured by Insitu's patented SkyHook recovery system

* An Integrator UAV takes flight

* ScanEagle prepares for launch

* ScanEagle is pictured aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton, which was the first U.S. Coast Guard Cutter to deploy fully equipped with a small UAS for an entire patrol.[14][15]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Community Engagement". Insitu. Archived from the original on October 6, 2022. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
2. ^ "Insitu, Inc. Contact Information". Insitu. Archived from the original on May 13, 2008. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
3. ^ "Insitu Team". Insitu. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
4. ^ a b c Corfield, Gareth (May 18, 2018). "Eye in the sea skies: Insitu flies Scaneagle 3 UAV in first public demo". The Register. Archived from the original on May 21, 2018. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
5. ^ "About Insitu". Insitu. Archived from the original on October 30, 2023. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
6. ^ "Autonomous Systems – ScanEagle". The Boeing Company. Archived from the original on November 29, 2023. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
7. ^ "Why Insitu". Insitu. 2022. Archived from the original on May 19, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
8. ^ "Insitu, founded in 1994, produces aircraft for militaries". The Bulletin. April 20, 2022. Archived from the original on May 14, 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
9. ^ "Boeing Completes Acquisition of Insitu". The Boeing Company (Press release). PRNewswire-FirstCall. September 9, 2008. Retrieved August 14, 2024.
10. ^ "Insitu History page". Insitu. 2015. Archived from the original on August 10, 2020. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
11. ^ "Boeing Acquires 2d3 Sensing to Enhance ISR on UAS". Avionics. April 13, 2015. Archived from the original on September 14, 2020. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
12. ^ "China sanctions military firms and executives over US arms sales to Taiwan". Reuters. December 27, 2024. Retrieved January 2, 2025.
13. ^ "Products". Insitu. Archived from the original on June 28, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
14. ^ "Acquisition update: Stratton completes first deployment with small UAS". www.dcms.uscg.mil. United States Coast Guard. April 4, 2017. Archived from the original on June 13, 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2023. "Coast Guard Cutter Stratton returned to its Alameda, California, homeport April 2, completing the first long-term deployment of a national security cutter (NSC) with a small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) on board as an operational asset."
15. ^ "Coast Guard offloads approximately 12,000 lbs of cocaine from Eastern Pacific interdictions". www.southcom.mil/. U.S. Southern Command. April 3, 2017. Archived from the original on June 13, 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2023. "Stratton's crew made history by being the first Coast Guard cutter to deploy fully equipped with a small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) for an entire patrol."

## External links

[edit]

* Official website