Northwest Aerospace News August | September Issue No. 4 | Page 31

I
n the Northwest, we can see hun-
dreds of bald eagles hunting for food
during the winter in Coeur d’Alene,
Idaho. The American bald eagle, our
national bird, has a wingspan of about
eight feet and flies with wings as
straight as a board, eyes scanning the
land and our northwest lakes for prey.
The bald eagle has much in common
with the Washington-made ScanEa-
gle, a small unmanned aircraft system
(sUAS) made in Bingen, Washington
by Insitu, a wholly-owned subsid-
iary of the Boeing Company since
2008. The ScanEagle has a wingspan
of about 10 feet and weighs 49-55
pounds and scans both land and water.
Soon, due to being awarded a $117
million United States Coast Guard
(USCG) contract, the ScanEagle will
be conducting many more maritim