For now, the military branch only has one VTOL drone, but will eventually have 168.
The new deal is with military contractor Raytheon, worth $28 million, and will cover a "Linux transition on the tactical control system software for vertical take-off (VTOL) unmanned air vehicle ground control stations."
A VTOL "has the ability to autonomously take off and land on any aviation-capable warship and at prepared and unprepared landing zones in proximity to the soldier in contact."
The Navy's single MQ-8B Fire Scout is currently used in South America to search for drug smugglers. It can fly as high as 20,000 feet at a speed of 100MPH.
Many believe the move to Linux is due to the malware attack suffered by the Air Force's Windows-based drone system last year.
Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 9 Jun 2012 19:29
