Raytheon Company is providing its enhanced Coyote® Unmanned Air System to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for hurricane tracking and modeling, giving researchers an unprecedented perspective from inside storms that build in the Atlantic Ocean.
A team of NOAA and Raytheon scientists will use the latest version of Coyote to monitor the track and intensity of storms. The team recently completed a successful calibration flight over Avon Park, Florida, where a Coyote was launched from a P-3 hurricane hunter aircraft to prepare for deployment during storm season.
“We've made significant improvements to Coyote. It can now fly for up to one hour and 50 miles away from the launch aircraft. Raytheon technology is playing a key role in enhancing safety for hurricane researchers, and helping to deliver vital information about potentially deadly storms to the American people. Ultimately, that will save lives,” said Dr. Thomas R. Bussing, Vice President of Advanced Missile Systems product line at Raytheon Missile Systems.
“This successful flight gives us additional confidence that we will be able to use this unique platform to collect critical continuous observations at altitudes in the storm environment that would otherwise be impossible,” said Dr. Joe Cione, a Hurricane Researcher at NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory and Chief Scientist of the Coyote program.
Coyote is an expendable UAS deployed from an A-size sonobuoy tube or common launch tube to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions while the host craft remains at a safe distance.
Coyote was developed by Sensintel, Inc., which was acquired in January 2015 by Raytheon Missile Systems.
Coyote performs surveillance imagery, targeting capability, real-time damage assessment, is designed to save lives and reduce operational costs, and is suitable for targeting assistance, perimeter security, and research missions
Raytheon Company, with 2014 sales of $23 billion and 61,000 employees worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity markets throughout the world.
With a history of innovation spanning 93 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as cybersecurity and a broad range of mission support services.
