Boeing and Austria's Schiebel Industries AG have signed a teaming agreement relating to the latter's Camcopter S-100 vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) compact unmanned aerial vehicle.
The accord, announced on 11 August, aims to fill a gap in Boeing's existing range of UAVs and related capabilities, while providing Schiebel with greater access to the US market.
Schiebel - founded in 1951 as a mine-detection equipment provider - has been producing the rotary-wing Camcopter for three years. Jane's reported earlier this year that around 150 units have been produced. The vehicles are three metres in length, with a payload of around 50 kg, a range of up to 200 km and an endurance of up to six hours.
To date, Schiebel has looked to opportunities relating to military and coastguard applications. Camcopter has been adopted by three export customers and has been trialled by France, Germany, India and Pakistan.