Raytheon has acquired Tucson, Ariz.-based Sensintel, a privately held manufacturer of small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), for an undisclosed price. The U.S. military and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are major users of the company’s line of small drones.

Sensintel’s Silver Fox, Manta and Coyote UAS were originally developed with Office of Naval Research (ONR) funding by a Tucson company called Advanced Ceramics Research. BAE Systems acquired the latter company in 2009; four years later a former executive of Advanced Ceramics Research bought it from BAE and named it Sensintel.

According to Raytheon, Sensintel comes with “strong talent, technology and relationships” with the ONR, the Special Operations Command and the Air Force Research Laboratory. It is considered a leader in low-cost, readily replaceable or “expendable” UAS.  

The Coyote was designed to be launched from a P-3C Orion sonobuoy tube. After being ejected, the three-foot-long air vehicle is slowed in freefall by a parachute, and its wings unfold. An electric pusher propeller rights it to fly horizontally. In September, NOAA said it deployed four Coyotes from its P-3 Hurricane Hunter aircraft directly into Hurricane Edouard in the Atlantic Ocean—an unmanned aircraft first. They transmitted temperature, pressure and wind observations from near the ocean’s surface, where warm water fuels a hurricane.

The U.S. Marine Corps deployed the 20-pound Silver Fox to Iraq for reconnaissance missions beginning in 2003. Powered by a model airplane engine, it has a six-foot-long fuselage and a detachable wing and tail fins, all fitting in a “super-sized golf bag,” according to an ONR description. The Manta is its larger sibling, capable of carrying a larger payload of 15 to 18 pounds.

Sensintel will become part of Raytheon’s Missile Systems business. “Sensintel's expertise in unmanned aircraft systems solutions makes it a natural fit with Raytheon’s Advanced Missile Systems product line,” stated Taylor Lawrence, the division’s president. “The acquisition of Sensintel enhances the growth prospects of our UAS business and the advanced capabilities we can offer our customers.”