Paris (Reuters): Textron Inc (TXT.N) introduced at the Paris Air Show a next-generation drone on Monday, this drone offers improved combat capability over its widely-used unmanned aircraft system, Shadow.
The new drone, Nightwarden Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (TUAS), developed by Textron Systems, a unit of Textron Inc, offers a maximum speed of 90 knots with a flight time of up to 15 hours and a payload capacity of 130 pounds, the company said.
A Goldman Sachs report on the drone industry released last year said the largest market for drones will continue to be the defense sector, with a market opportunity worth $70 billion between 2016 and 2020.
Textron's Shadow drone has clocked more than one million flight hours and is currently used by the armed forces of the United States, Italy, Sweden and Australia.
Shadow's developer AAI Corp, a unit of Textron, had won a $475 million U.S. defense contract in January for mid-endurance unmanned aircraft systems to be used at multiple locations worldwide.