Marines Fly Big, New Surveillance Drone in Australia as They Test Unmanned Recon Missions

The Marine Corps is using its smaller-than-normal Australia rotation to test how it might dispatch tiny teams armed with unmanned tools to collect intel during future operations.

A Marine RQ-21A Blackjack surveillance drone made its first flight Down Under this month. The Marines are deployed to Australia's Northern Territory as part of Marine Rotational Force-Darwin.

It marked the first time the Hawaii-based Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 3 has deployed with the new Blackjack drone.