Alliant Techsystems RQ-6 Outrider - Fort Huachuca, Arizona - Static Aircraft Displays on Waymarking.com

Text of plaque:

Alliant Techsystems RQ-6 Outrider

In 1996 the Mi-Tex Hellfox UAV, which had first flown in December 1995, was selected to fulfill a joint U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps TUAV (Tactical UAV) requirement for a short-range battlefield surveillance and target acquisition UAV. In May of that year, Alliant Techsystems was awarded an ACTD (Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration) contract to develop the Outrider TUA system with an air vehicle based on the Hellfox design.  However, the Outrider program was troubled from the beginning and the first flight did not occur until March 1997.   The major reason for the delay was the necessity to redesign the fuselage from composite to aluminum construction, after it was discovered that the former design provided insufficient shielding of the avionics in a ship-board EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) environment.  The final design, which also used a more powerful engine, first flew in November 1997.  Test and development somewhat accelerated in 1998, and in April that year the U.S. Army received its first complete Outrider system for training and evaluation.  The Outrider flew only once at Ft. Huachuca.  In October 1998 the Navy and Marine Corps left the program because of poor cost and performance data and began to look at a VTOL alternative.  In early 1999, the Outrider UAV was officially designated as RQ-6A.

The protracted development of the Outrider prompted the U.S. Army to look at alternatives.  In 1999, the Army conducted a comparative system capability demonstration between the RQ-6A and the AAI RQ-7A Shadow 200 UAS.  In the end, the latter proved better suited to fulfill the Army's TUAV requirements, and Outrider was finally cancelled in late 1999.  A total of 20 Outrider UAVs had been built, 10 of which were of the final RQ-6A design.

Type of Aircraft: (make/model): Alliant Techsystems RQ-6 Outrider Tail Number: (S/N): 119 Construction:: original aircraft Location (park, airport, museum, etc.): Fort Huachuca inside / outside: outside Access restrictions: Access Fort Huachuca through main gates. Need government issued id for all adults. Need proof of insurance and registration for automobile. Access is normally open. Do not take photos of areas that are marked indicating no photography. Other Information:: Not listed

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Photo of aircraft (required - will be interesting to see if the aircraft is ever repainted or progress if being restored)
Photo of serial number (required unless there is not one or it is a replica)
Photo(s) of any artwork on the aircraft (optional but interesting)

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