FLIR Systems to provide Black Hornet UAS to the US Army.

FLIR Systems, Inc. has been awarded a $2.6 million order from the United States Army to deliver FLIR Black Hornet® Personal Reconnaissance Systems (PRS). The units delivered under this contract will support squad-level surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities in the Army’s first batch order for the Soldier Borne Sensor (SBS) program.

FLIR Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance Systems (PRS) will support squad-level surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. (Photo: Pfc. Rhita Daniel)

The United States Army purchased the Black Hornet PRS from FLIR for test and evaluation purposes in both 2016 and 2017. The Army will continue its evaluation and consider broader scale roll out of the Black Hornet for full operational deployment within all infantry units.

“The United States Army’s selection of FLIR to provide the Black Hornet PRS in this initial delivery of the Soldier Borne Sensor program represents a key opportunity to provide soldiers in every U.S. Army squad a critical advantage on the modern battlefield,” said James Cannon, President and CEO of FLIR Systems. “This contract demonstrates the strong demand for nano-drone technology offered by FLIR and opens the way for broad deployment across all branches of the military. We’re proud to provide the highly-differentiated Black Hornet PRS to help support the U.S. Government to achieve the objective of protecting its warfighters.”

This contract expands the use of FLIR’s Black Hornet PRS for military surveillance and reconnaissance programs. FLIR has delivered the Black Hornet PRS systems to 30 nations around the world, and the U.S. Army will receive the latest generation of the system under the SBS program.

Deliveries of these systems will take place in 2018.