AeroVironment Wasp III

For the speedboat, see Wasp III (watercraft).
Role Miniature UAV
National origin United States
Manufacturer AeroVironment Inc.
Introduction 2007
Status In service
Primary user United States Air Force

The AeroVironment Wasp III Small Unmanned Aircraft System is a miniature UAV developed for United States Air Force special operations to provide a small, light-weight vehicle to provide beyond-line-of-sight situation awareness. The aircraft is equipped with two on-board cameras to provide real-time intelligence to its operators. It is also equipped with GPS and an Inertial Navigation System enabling it to operate autonomously from takeoff to recovery. It was designed by AeroVironment Inc., and was first added to the Air Force inventory in 2007.[1] There are two Wasp variants: the traditional version that lands on land ("Terra Wasp"), and a version that lands into the sea or fresh water ("Aqua Wasp"). The Air Force accepted the Wasp AE in late May 2012,[2] and the U.S. Marine Corps revealed in January 2013 that they had ordered the Wasp AE.[3] The Wasp AE is designated as the RQ-12A.[4]

  1. ^ US Air Force Wasp III Fact Sheet Archived 2012-07-23 at archive.today
  2. ^ Air Force accepts Wasp AE Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine - sUASNews.com
  3. ^ AeroVironment Awarded $12 million Wasp AE Contract Archived 2013-01-28 at the Wayback Machine - sUASNews.com, January 23, 2013
  4. ^ AeroVironment will provide US Marine Corps with new RQ-12 Wasp AE UAS Archived September 29, 2014, at the Wayback Machine - Armyrecognition.com, 24 September 2014