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Can it actually be true that the Wasp MAVs cost $291,000 each???

Posted by Chris Anderson on April 7, 2010 at 9:55pm
According to Defence Tech:

"The Air Force is asking for $3.2 million to purchase 11 WASP micro air vehicles – those wicked little Aeorvironment throwable drones that peek over the next ridge. The Air Force says the drones will allow:

Battlefield Airmen to rapidly adapt to the dynamic war fighting environment of the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). The system provides increased situational awareness in a combat environment, enables ground-based Battlefield Airmen to find and track time-critical targets, and provide bomb damage assessment and force protection for forward-deployed troops."



That's $291,000 each. Can this possibly be right?
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Comments

  • Wyliest April 7, 2010 at 10:34pm
    I think with a little mass production some one could beat a 1000 times. Thats much money! How do i get a cut?
  • Moderator
    Brian April 7, 2010 at 10:30pm
    The site says it shares the same technology as it's bigger brothers including the same ground station. It's super light and tough, (although a guess, I think it is also kevlar). If you've ever priced kevlar for DIY projects... you ended up with a fiberglass widgett! (at least I did).
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson April 7, 2010 at 10:24pm
    Normally, we promise to make UAVs two orders of magnitude cheaper, but now I think we can do three. "90% of the features for 1/1000th the price!"
  • Overwatch April 7, 2010 at 10:19pm
    Oh yeah, or there's more than one unit in a package :-)
  • Overwatch April 7, 2010 at 10:15pm
    Unlikely, since comparable machines of their competition cost around $10,000 (e.g. Raytheon's SilentEyes). There's probably some kind of additional R&D the USAF requested, ground infrastructure or personnel training in that price tag as well as the flight hardware.
  • Wyliest April 7, 2010 at 10:15pm
    IDK, but at that price I think so one could make some thing cheaper. I wonder where one could fine some kind of group of people working on some thing like that? LOL!
  • Moderator
    Brian April 7, 2010 at 10:11pm
    Yea, that's about right. If it's like the Raven then there are multiple planes, several sets of ground station equipment purchased as a "System". Total package per system is in that price-range.
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