EW pods for Shadow UAS

The US Marine Corps has been outfitting the Shadow unmanned aerial system with electronic warfare pods to provide aid to troops in the field, according to a Marine official.

In February, the Marines flew an RQ-7B Shadow UAS airframe with external electronic warfare pods on it, which marked “the first time a Shadow platform carried an external payload like that for electronic warfare,” Lieutenant Colonel Adam Musoff, Marine aviation electronic warfare requirements officer, told Inside the Navy.

“It was a successful electronic attack where pods were turned on and off remotely and reprogrammed for a target set.”

In February, ITN reported that the Marines were outlining requirements to weaponize a Shadow UAS after receiving an urgent needs statement from troops in Afghanistan.

The Marines want to weaponise a Shadow to reduce the time between when a Shadow identified a target and when it fired.

But the Marines have also found an EW use for the aircraft, which provides a big boost to ground troops because they don’t have enough aircraft to provide all the EW support they need.

The ADF has acquired two Shadow 200 systems for later deployment to the MEAO under JP129.