Northrop Grumman’s announcement that it will market a family of “Bat” unmanned aircraft based on the experimental KillerBee’s blended-wing-body design has sparked an unusual clarification from Raytheon.

Speaking from the Navy League conference in Washington, Raytheon officials said that in late April the company purchased the name KillerBee from Northrop Grumman and also KillerBee technology.

Raytheon plans to submit KillerBee in the U.S. Navy’s Small Tactical Unmanned Air Systems (STUAS) competition, under which the Navy would buy video-equipped UAVs for sailors and Marines.

“Under this agreement” with Northrop Grumman “our rights are protected for STUAS,” said Mike Nachshen, a spokesman for Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Ariz. Raytheon has tested the KillerBee’s net-based recovery system in Arizona, using a trailer as a surrogate for a moving ship.

At stake is the future of the blended-wing body technology pioneered by racecar designer Swift Engineering. Swift designed the KillerBee in partnership with Northrop Grumman, and together they demonstrated the aircraft in 2007. In May 2008, Raytheon announced it had formed a partnership with Swift to pursue the STUAS contract.

Raytheon’s clarification was sparked by an April 27 press release from Northrop Grumman in which Northrop described the Bat aircraft as “the formerly known KillerBee product line.”

Northrop Grumman confirmed the KillerBee licensing agreement with Raytheon. “We did license a discrete part of the former KillerBee product line, formerly known as KillerBee 4, to Raytheon,” said Northrop spokesman Jim Hart, using the term for the aircraft Raytheon has tested at the Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. “Other terms of the licensing agreement are confidential.”

Northrop would not say whether it plans to submit a version of Bat under the STUAS competition. “We are not saying what we may or may not do on the STUAS program,” Hart said.

In the April 27 statement, Northrop Grumman said: “The BAT UAS product line is the formerly known KillerBee product line recently acquired from Swift Engineering.”

Northrop said the planes would have wingspans ranging from 6.5 feet to 33.2 feet.