RQ-7 Shadow

The AAI RQ-7 Shadow is an American tactical unmanned aerial vehicle built by AAI Corporation for reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition and battle damage assessment. Selected by the US Army in late 1999 and fielded from 2002, it is launched from a trailer-mounted pneumatic catapult and recovered using a tailhook and arresting gear. Operated at brigade level by the US Army, it has also served with the US Marine Corps and with the Australian, Swedish, Italian and Turkish armed forces.

Development

The RQ-7 followed the cancellation of the Alliant RQ-6 Outrider and the Army's continued search for a battlefield UAS. AAI developed the Shadow 200 as a refinement of its RQ-2 Pioneer; the Army selected it in late 1999 and redesignated it RQ-7. Requirements called for an aviation gasoline engine, an EO/IR sensor turret, a 50 km range with four hours on station, and the ability to land in an athletic field; the Shadow 200 offered at least twice the required range. Low-rate initial production systems reached the Army in 2002, with full-scale production deliveries from September 2003. Training is conducted by the 2nd Battalion, 13th Aviation Regiment at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. An estimated 500 RQ-7Bs were in US Army service as of January 2025.

Design

The Shadow 200 is a high-wing, constant-chord pusher aircraft with twin tailbooms and an inverted V-tail, built around the NACA 4415 airfoil with fixed tricycle landing gear. Power comes from a 38 hp (28 kW) AR741-1101 Wankel engine from UAV Engines Ltd, with a GEC/Plessey 28 V, 2 kW generator. The primary payload is the IAI POP300 turret with forward-looking infrared, a daytime TV camera with selectable near-infrared filter, and a laser pointer; video is relayed by C-band line-of-sight datalink. Landings use the Sierra Nevada Corporation Tactical Automatic Landing System, pairing a ground-based millimetre-wave radar with an airborne transponder; the arresting wire stops the aircraft in under 170 ft (52 m). A system comprises four aircraft, two Humvee-mounted Ground Control Stations with Ground Data Terminals, a Portable GCS backup, and M1152-series transport vehicles, requiring 22 soldiers to operate.

Armament

The Army issued a sources-sought solicitation for a Shadow munition in April 2010, after which the Marine Corps took the lead. Raytheon flight-tested the Small Tactical Munition, Lockheed Martin the Shadow Hawk glide weapon, General Dynamics a guided 81 mm air-dropped mortar in November 2012, and Textron the Fury in 2014. Marine funding ran out by May 2015 and no weapon entered service; planned wider wings would have added external hardpoints.

Operational History

The Shadow did not fly in Afghanistan in 2001–2002 but flew operational missions in Operation Iraqi Freedom, where heat and sand caused engine failures. The fleet passed 200,000 flight hours by July 2007, 500,000 by May 2010 and 900,000 by June 2014, across more than 37,000 sorties in Iraq and Afghanistan. VMU-1 became the first Marine squadron to deploy the type in Iraq in October 2007; the Marine Corps retired it on 29 July 2018 after 39,000 hours and 11 deployments, replacing it with the RQ-21 Blackjack. In July 2014 Shadows deployed to Baghdad to protect embassy personnel. Romania received Shadow 600s from 1998 and lost three in Iraq.

Variants

• RQ-7A Shadow: Initial production version with AR741-1100 engine and POP200 payload, 12 ft 9 in wingspan and 4–5.5 hours endurance.
• RQ-7B Shadow: 2004 version with 14 ft wet wings, 45 kg payload, AR741-1101 engine and POP300 turret.
• RQ-7BV2: Fielded March 2015 with TCDL, encrypted datalinks, fuel-injected engine and 20 ft wings for nine-hour endurance.
• Nightwarden: Production model of the Shadow M2, with 1,100 km range, 15 hours endurance and 340 kg maximum takeoff weight.
• Shadow 600: Scaled-up Pioneer derivative with swept outer wing panels and a 52 hp UAV EL 801 Wankel engine.