UA to Receive 15 New ScanEagle Reconnaissance Drones Known For Their Use in the Navy Seal Rescue of Captain Phillips

ScanEagle surveillance drones, mine-resistant vehicles, anti-armor rounds and howitzer weapons to help Ukrainian forces regain territory and mount a counteroffensive against Russian invaders.”

Launching and returning to its users likens the ScanEagle to children’s toy drones, but the Boeing-built reconnaisance drone has been well-known for nearly two decades for its use by US special operation forces during combat. [i]

The provision of the ScanEagle surveillance drones comes as part of a $775 million package in military aid and weapons to be supplied by the US to Ukraine.

The ScanEagle is a “small, long-endurance, low-altitude drone…which is intended to help guide targeting for Ukrainian artillery.” The small drones are reported to be “relatively easy to move around the battlefield and will be invaluable in the expected assault on Kherson in the south of the country.” [ii] [iii]

The ScanEagle is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a 62-mile (100 km) range. It is capable of remaining in the air for over 20 hours. It weighs nearly forty pounds and has a maximum flight speed of 86 mph. The 15 ScanEagle drones, launched using a catapult, are “valued at several million dollars.” [iv]

In 2009, after the US-flagged container ship Maersk Alabama was seized by pirates, US Navy SEALS used the ScanEagle to circle over one of the ship’s lifeboats.

The drone provided “real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance imagery that contributed to the Phillips rescue.” The drone used during the rescue is displayed in The Museum of Flight alongside “three shell casings from the Navy sniper bullets used to kill Capt. Richard Phillips’ captors.” [v]

The following video is from the movie “Captain Phillips,” showing the ScanEagle in flight, zeroing in on Captain Phillips’ lifeboat.

In addition to the ScanEagle drones, the following will also be provided to Ukraine:

• “HIMARS ammunition
• 16 105mm howitzers and 36,000 of 105mm artillery rounds
• 40 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles, or MRAPS, with mine rollers
• Additional high-speed anti-radiation missiles, which target radar systems
• 50 armored Humvees
• 1,500 TOW anti-armor missiles
• 1,000 Javelin anti-armor systems
• 2,000 anti-armor rounds
• Mine-clearing equipment and systems
• Demolition munitions
• Communications systems, and
• Night vision and thermal optics and laser rangefinders.” [vi]

According to US and Western officials, the armaments are meant to support Ukraine as they “significantly weaken Russian positions in a number of places.” The provided aid will continue to allow Ukraine “to launch successful attacks deep behind Russian battle lines, which is eroding logistics support and command and control of Moscow’s forces, and harming their morale.” [vii]

Further, although Ukrainian forces have not taken a significant amount of territory, defense officials report,

You’re seeing this hollowing out of the Russian forces in Ukraine, but with implication for their longer-term sustainability.” [viii]

References

[i] Tom Wyatt, Scan Eagle Drone Used by Navy Seals in Captain Phillips Rescue Headed to Ukraine, (Aug. 19, 2022)

[ii] Joe Gould, ‘Seek and destroy’: New US aid to Ukraine targets Russian artillery, (Aug. 19, 2022)

[iii] Angelia, Ukraine will get new reconnaissance drones from the USA, (Aug. 20, 2022)

[iv] Maksim Panasovskyi, The US will send 15 Boeing ScanEagle drones to Ukraine for the first time as part of a $775 million military aid package, (Aug. 19, 2022)

[v] The Museum of Flight, Museum Displays ScanEagle Drone Used in “Captain Phillips” Rescue, (Oct. 7, 2013)

[vi] Tom Wyatt, Scan Eagle Drone Used by Navy Seals in Captain Phillips Rescue Headed to Ukraine, (Aug. 19, 2022)

[vii] Business Standard, US announces new military aid, drones for Ukraine to regain territory, (Aug. 20, 2022)

[viii] Id.