Piasecki was selected through a competition managed by the Army and its Lead Systems Integrator (LSI) team of Boeing and SAIC (Science Applications International Corp).

The competition was designed to bring the best of industry to FCS. The Class II and III UAVs are an integral part of the FCS System of Systems solution and are slated for fielding by 2014 with the first fully equipped FCS brigade-sized combat team.

Piasecki's proposed Class II UAV is the "Air Scout" tandem shrouded rotor configuration. The Class II UAV will serve as a reconnaissance, security/early warning, target acquisition platform at the Army's company level. The Class II UAV will operate in near-earth complex terrain with autonomous control.

It will be vehicle mounted and capable of taking off and landing on FCS manned ground vehicles and in unimproved areas to provide enhanced dedicated imagery, while being autonomously controlled and remotely cued by Army personnel.

The Air Scout is a scaled down unmanned version of PiAC's successful Air Geep vehicles. This configuration provides excellent hover and low speed performance and stability required for the Class II UAV missions, with the added benefit of a shrouded rotor system to allow safe operation in close proximity to troops and in a near earth environment.

Piasecki's successful Class III UAV system is the "Air Guard" gyrocopter (picture). The Class III UAV will have longer endurance and larger payload carrying capacity than the Class II, and will be operated at the Army's Battalion level organization.

The Class III is a multifunctional aerial combat support system capable of providing over watch reconnaissance, communications relay, security/early warning, target acquisition, designation and mine field detection, and will be capable of taking off and landing in unimproved areas.

Piasecki has assembled a group of leading industry and academia partners to execute these Phase 1 contracts. For Class II, Team Air Scout includes Piasecki as Prime Contractor with responsibility for the air vehicle development with subcontractor support from Lockheed Martin Systems Integration in Owego, NY for systems engineering, mission systems integration, software development, integration and test, Sparta, Inc. for logistics and training, Drexel University for collision avoidance sensor system and Georgia Institute of Technology for the autonomy.

For Class III, Team Air Guard includes many of the same members with the exception that Belzon will be responsible for logistics and training in lieu of Sparta. John Piasecki, Vice President, Contracts welcomed the award announcement, saying "Piasecki and our fellow team members look forward to working closely with our Army Customer and Boeing-SAIC LSI to make the FCS Class II and III UAV visions a reality."

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