Redwire has received another US Army contract to maintain and support its Stalker drone fleet at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, strengthening the training infrastructure used to prepare soldiers for unmanned aircraft operations. The follow-on award includes maintenance support and spare parts, including hybrid lift batteries, for the Army’s existing systems. Redwire said the work will keep training aircraft operational and allow soldiers to gain experience on platforms they could encounter in real-world missions. Its training programmes are backed by experience spanning hundreds of thousands of flight hours across six continents. The Stalker is a compact fixed-wing UAS designed for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Its modular configuration supports multiple payloads, including electro-optical and infrared sensors for day and night missions. With its fuel-cell power system, the aircraft offers more than eight hours of endurance and a communications range of up to 160 kilometers (99 miles), according to Redwire. It features autonomous vertical launch, flight, and landing capabilities and can be operated by a two-person crew. The system can also manage multiple aircraft from a single ground control station, with operators able to transfer control between them. The latest contract follows Redwire’s $15-million May order for additional Stalker aircraft for the same Army training unit. It marked the 1st Aviation Brigade’s third order from the company in eight months, taking the value of the recent awards to $24.8 million.
