AAI Corporation will provide four Shadow 200 tactical unmanned aircraft systems (TUAS) for the Italian Army under a €51m ($64m) contract.

The Shadow 200 TUAS, which will be deployed by the Italian Army for surveillance and reconnaissance missions alongside Nato forces, can be transported by using small vehicles or C-130 Hercules aircraft.

With an ability to take off and land from small, semi-prepared airfields, the Shadow system uses AAI’s interoperable One System ground control station architecture to send and receive battlefield imagery and telemetry data.

Shadow’s datalink transmits full motion video, day or night, of targets up to 125km from the ground control station.

The aircraft has an endurance capacity of up to nine hours, a payload capacity of 36kg and a maximum airspeed of 110kt, and can detect targets at a 10km range.