FORT BENNING, Ga., (Dec. 3, 2014) -- Students of the Maneuver Captains Career Course at Fort Benning evaluated the InstantEye to aid in the advancement of a new generation.
InstantEye Mk-2 Gen 3, by Physical Science Inc., is a small, unmanned aerial system able to be launched by hand with vertical takeoff and landing, said Art Petit, training and services manager for InstantEye.
The system demonstrates integrated squad-level airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance with the ability to provide a cursor on target and battle damage assessment, according to a release on Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiments of 2015.
InstantEye Mk-2 Gen 3 was designed directly from feedback from Soldiers, Petit said. Most in attendance had already been exposed to the system and gave positive feedback but with their feedback, PSI Technology is constantly developing new and improved versions of the system.
"Bottom line behind the aircraft's design is it wasn't designed in a vacuum by a bunch of engineers; it was designed by the guys that get their boots dusty on the ground every day," Petit said.
At the end of the hands-on demonstration by Petit and Philly Croteau, Physical Science Inc. engineer, the students filled out an evaluation of the product. The evaluation included inquiries about the operational effectiveness of the altitude of InstantEye and how they imagined InstantEye being used in future missions.
The kit comes with two aircraft ground-control stations and two aircraft with required special cabling. The system has the capability to use thermal imagery cameras, zoom-capability cameras, infrared floodlights and night-vision cameras.
The entire kit weights approximately 20 pounds with the actual system weighing about a pound. InstantEye can travel up to 35 miles-per hour and has a battery life between 20 and 30 minutes, depending on the payload. It can also reportedly withstand winds of approximately 30 miles per hour, but has managed to fly in winds 60 miles per hour, Croteau said. As evidence, Croteau said the system did sustain flight when put up against Hurricane Sandy.
"The individual Soldier is getting a lot of capabilities in one small package where he wouldn't normally get as an Infantry squad," Petit said. "Me, being retired, I wish I would have had it when I was in Iraq or Afghanistan, too," said Peitit, who retired from Army Special Forces.
Petit said the duration of instruction for use of InstantEye is three days long to allow for understanding of system componentry, although he said he could teach a person to use the system in less than five minutes.
The ground-control station, which stays in the hands of the operator as the system is maneuvered through the air, is based off an Xbox system, said Petit, who admitted he is still a gamer.
Being prior Infantry, Petit emphasized the advantage of having a third-eye perspective as a ground Soldier where it may not have existed before because of priorities not going to ground Soldiers.
"That's really important for the safety and force protection of the Soldiers," Petit said.
Capt. Brett Matzenbacher, small group leader of the MCCC, compared the system to the Raven; a rucksack-portable unmanned aerial system currently used in combat overseas.
"I like the Raven because it is something I own," Matzenbacher said. "Pretty much every aspect of performance I can think of (makes InstantEye) superior to what we currently have at the company level."
Recently, Open Source, the Science and Technology Office for the Secretary of Defense had to report to Congress on research and development dollars that were being spent, Petit said. They talked about six different items, one of the items being InstantEye having saved the lives of 13 American Soldiers in Afghanistan.
"That was one of our big success stories," Petit said. "If it saves one life, it's worth all of the effort we put into it. It's already saved lives, so that's an important fact to us."
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