Boeing’s concept
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Three teams have now received Phase 1 contracts to begin developing develop a radical new aircraft, under a US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program known as “Vulture.”

DARPA’s goals for Vulture are not trivial: 5 years on station with a 450kg/ 1,000lb payload, 5kW of onboard power, and sufficient loiter speed to stay on station for 99% of the time against winds encountered at 60,000-90,000 feet. The system could act as a satellite substitute for communications relay or reconnaissance, as long as the payload fit within the weight limit. Vulture would be more vulnerable to anti-aircraft missiles than a satellite, and could be targeted by fighter jets as well given the right launch profile; on the other hand, that closeness would improve sensor resolution and communications capability.

The engineering challenges ahead are formidable, as one would expect for a DARPA project. The power system in particular must be extremely reliable, and the aircraft’s materials will require advances of their own. Odysseus will be exposed to far more warming and cooling than satellites, and more ultraviolet radiation which will affect the aircraft’s materials. The design is also likely to require very large wings, both to help keep it aloft and to accommodate the number of solar cells required. Conditions at altitude can challenge the durability of those wings, especially with hydrogen storage tanks attached. Aerovironment’s Helios (1998-2003) demonstrated this the hard way in its 2003 crash.

So, who is competing, and what are the proposed designs?

• The Process, The Designers & The Designs
• Contracts and Related Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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RU-38 Twin Condor
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The nature of the current war puts a high premium “persistent, pervasive stare” capability, also known as technical Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR). America has been reminded (yet again) that these tools cannot replace human intelligence and social networks, but when used properly they create significant advantages for a counter-insurgency force. Right now, about 80% of the U.S. military’s aerial ISR assets – from UAVs to planes like the U-2 – are busy in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of operations. Most of those are in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been pushing the ISR idea. He’s pressing the US military to speed up procurement, and deploy more ISR platforms in theater. He’s also putting his money where his mouth is. A task force was set up, and approval was given to “reprogram” funds from other areas, in order to fund these additional ISR projects. Congressional defense committees have now approved a FY 2008 request to reprogram $1.2 billion. According to Pentagon sources, these monies will buy 21 manned ISR aircraft, add to the RQ-11 Raven, RQ-7 Shadow, MQ-5 Hunter, MQ-1 Predator, and MQ-9 Reaper UAV systems in theater, and buy more Scan Eagle UAV detachments for the Navy and Marines.

These changes will do much more than just improve surveillance…

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P-8A: Sonobuoy drop
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Sonobuoys are used to detect and identify moving underwater objects by either listening for the sounds produced by propellers and machinery (passive detection), or by bouncing a sonar “ping” off the surface of a submarine (active detection). They usually float, or have at least some part of them that does. Specialized sonobuoys can also detect electric fields, magnetic anomalies, and bioluminescence (light emitted by microscopic organisms disturbed by a passing submarine); as well as measuring environmental parameters like water temperature versus depth, air temperature, barometric pressure, and wave height.

Sonobuoys are generally dropped from aircraft or helicopters that are equipped with a means to launch them, and electronic equipment to receive and process data sent by the sonobuoy. They can also be launched from ships.

This entry will discuss some of the new sonobuoys in use, and also begin covering related contracts – including a contract for sonotube-launched UAVs….

• Sonobuoy Types
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
  
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Start with this…

“ROVER” is an unimpressive piece of equipment. Mostly, it looks like a ruggedized laptop with antennas. But SpaceWar.com quotes Lt. Col. Gregory E. Harbin, of the 609th Combat Operations Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base, SC, who says ”...the ROVER is bringing a phenomenal capability to our people on the ground.” ROVER is the Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver, which receives camera images from nearby aircraft and UAVs (somewhat like Israel’s wrist-mounted V-RAMBO), then integrates them with other US positioning and targeting software.

Staff Sgt. Justin Cry, a Shaw Joint Tactical Air Controller (JTAC), has a job that’s an art form at the best of times. Describing features from the ground to a pilot looking down while flying at high speed is no easy task. According to a Dec 16/05 USAF article, he used the system in Iraq and in New Orleans, and says simply: “I can circle an area on my screen, drawing arrows for emphasis, and what I’m drawing appears on (the pilots’) screens as well.”

ROVER continues to evolve, and is becoming an unheralded but critical piece of equipment in America’s arsenal. This is DID’s FOCUS Article covering the system and its ongoing developments – the latest of which is a contract for next-generation ROVER III data links.

• From X-Box to ROVER
• ROVER: Contracts and Key Events
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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MQ-1C Sky Warrior
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In August 2005, “Team Warrior” leader General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. in San Diego, CA won a $214.4 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) of the Extended Range/ Multi Purpose Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System (ER/MP UAS). The Warrior was designed to fill both surveillance and attack roles, and the MQ-1C Sky Warrior derived from General Atomics’ famous MQ-1 Predator beat the Hunter II system offered by Northrop Grumman, Aurora Flight Systems, and IAI.

The Sky Warrior ER/MP program is part of the US Army’s reinvestment of dollars from the canceled RAH-66 Comanche helicopter program, and directly supports the Army’s Aviation Modernization Plan. ER/MP could be a $1 billion effort, and recently strengthened its position when a 2007 program restructuring cut the Future Combat Systems Class III UAV competition.

Now, in FY 2008, the MQ-1C Sky Warrior ER/MP prepares to move into production – as the first big “Key West” battle of the 21st century between the USAF and US Army reaches a resolution. But the Sky Warrior and Predator will be merging into a single program. What does that mean, exactly? DID asked. Meanwhile, our readers asked us to explain the differences between the MQ-1 Predator, MQ-1C Sky Warrior, and MQ-9 Reaper. DID is happy to oblige.

The latest news is the acquisition of 3 Block 0 SkyWarriors for use on the front lines…

• The MQ-1C Sky Warrior, and its Band of Brothers
• The Army’s Sky Warrior Program
• ER/MP UAS – Enter the Warrior: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Appendix A: US Army et. al. vs. USAF Over UAVs
• Appendix B: Additional Readings – Who Controls the UAVs?
• Appendix C: Additional Readings
  
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Global Hawk Cutaway
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The RQ-4 Global Hawks isn’t a full successor to the famous U-2 spy plane just yet, which is why the USA is keeping its U-2s for now. It’s close, however, and some people have described the HALE UAV as the equivalent of having a photo satellite on station. Flying at 60,000 feet for 30-40+ hours at a time, the jet-powered UAV used sophisticated radars and other sensors to monitor developments on land, sea, and air over an area of about 40,000 square miles/ 100,000 square km. Reported image resolution has been described as 1 foot or less.

The USA has made effective use of Global Hawks since its formal unveiling in 1997, which has prompted interest from other countries. Germany will develop and induct its EuroHawk version under a EUR 430 million program, and NATO’s AGS system will now deploy Global Hawk UAVs instead of a more effective combination of Global Hawks and modified Airbus A321 jets. Outside of NATO, however, sales have reportedly been trickier. Four issues have worked to hold up potential sales – 2 of which are acknowledged openly.

South Korea ran afoul of all 4 of those issues, when the USA rejected their application to buy 4 of the larger RQ-4B UAVs in 2006. Now, it seems, the tide has turned…

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BAMS Operation Concept
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The world’s P-3 Orion fleets have served for a long time, and many are reaching the end of their lifespans. In the USA, and possibly beyond, the new P-8 Poseidon Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft will take up the P-3’s role. While the P-8’s base 737-based airframe offers strong service & maintenance arguments in its favor, the airframe is expensive enough that the P-3s cannot be replaced on a 1:1 basis.

In order to extend the P-8 fleet’s reach, and provide additional capabilities, the Poseidon is expected to work with at least one companion platform under the BAMS (Broad Area Maritime Surveillance) and/or PUMAS (Persistent Unmanned Aerial Surveillance) programs. The BAMS UAV competition is widely seen as a fight between Northrop Grumman’s high-flying, jet-powered RQ-4 Global Hawk, and General Atomics’ turboprop-powered Mariner (a cousin of its MQ-9 Reaper); but Boeing entered an optionally unmanned G550 business jet.

This DID FOCUS Article explains the BAMS concept, the program’s key requirements, and its international angle. We’ll also cover ongoing contracts and key events related to the program, which chose Northrop Grumman’s navalized RQ-4N Gloal Hawk.

The Lockheed Martin/General Atomics team had protested that award to the GAO – but their protest was recently denied, leaving the program free to move forward.

• Next-Gen Maritime Patrol Systems: Issues and Options
• BAMS: Requirements and Missions
• BAMS: The International Angle [updated]
• BAMS: The Industry Team [new]
• BAMS: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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Heron 1 UAV, Canada
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Israel Aerospace Industries’ Heron is a large MALE UAV in the MQ-1 Predator’s Class. It is primarily used as a surveillance UAV over land and sea, and can be equipped with a number of modular radar, sensor, and even electronic intelligence packages. The 2006 war in Lebanon also demonstrated that they could be armed, if necessary. Heron currently serves in Israel (Heron 1 and Heron TP), India, Turkey, and in France as the SIDM/EuroMALE variant.

The UAV will also begin serving Canada in Afghanistan, under an arrangement that parallels Britain’s interim lease of Hermes 450 UAVs from the UTaCS consortium of Thales UK and Elbit Systems. In Canada’s case, the Ardea partnership that supplies and operates the UAVs involves Elbit’s rival IAI, and Canadian surveillance & aerospace firm MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.

IAI Heron ELINT
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MDA’s surveillance solution will be operational in Afghanistan before February 2009. The initial C$ 95 million (about $90 million) UAV operations and training contract will keep the Herons in service until early 2011, with a C$ 35 million option for an additional 3rd year. MDA release.

Canada has a JUSTAS program that includes UAVs in this class, just as Britain has its Watchkeeper UAV program. The Herons do fill the Phase 1 near-term MALE UAV requirements under JUSTAS, but the longer-term choices seem unlikely to be made until Phase 2. Meanwhile, MDA and IAI are promoting the Heron UAVs as a cheaper option for search-and rescue (SAR) and related surveillance tasks over Canada’s boreal forests and northern regions. A July 10/08 exercise in Suffield, Alberta involved the Heron UAV finding the wreckage of a ‘crashed’ Cessna, and coordinating the ‘rescue’ of Canadian MP Art Hangar. The Canadian Civil Air Search and Rescue Association attended and commented approvingly, and the Discovery Channel filmed the exercise [MDA release | Red Deer Advocate story, PDFs].

Reaper, ready…
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The MQ-9 Reaper, once called “Predator B,” is somewhat similar to the Predator. Until you look at the tail. Or its size. Or its weapons. It’s called “Reaper” for a reason – while it packs the same surveillance gear, it’s much more of a hunter-killer design. The Reaper is 36 feet long, with a 66 foot wingspan. Its maximum gross takeoff weight is a whopping 10,500 pounds, carrying up to 4,000 pounds of fuel, 850 pounds of internal/ sensor payload, and another 3,000 pounds on its wings. Its 6 pylons can carry GPS-guided JDAM family bombs, Paveway laser-guided bombs, Sidewinder missiles for air-air self defense, and other MIL STD 1760 compatible weapons, in addition to the Hellfire anti-armor missiles carried by the Predator. When loaded up with laser-guided Hydra rockets, the Reaper becomes the equivalent of a close air support fighter with less situational awareness, lower speed, and less survivability if seen – but much, much longer on-station time. Some have called it the first fielded Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV).

That capability set makes the MQ-9 considerably more expensive than its MQ-1 Predator counterparts, whose price also benefits from volume production orders. Given these high-end capabilities, and high end expenses, one might not have expected the MQ-9 to enjoy export success that matches its famous cousin’s. Nevertheless, that’s what appears to be happening. MQ-9 operators currently include the USA and Britain, who have both used it in hunter-killer mode. If current contract requests are fulfilled, Italy and Germany will soon add MQ-9s to their forces as well.

Note that this is a new DID FOCUS article; it will shift to DII membership only after the first 2 days.

• The MQ-9 Reaper, and its Little Brothers
• Contracts & Key Events (SDD-2008)
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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RQ-11: higher, faster…
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Back on Feb 24, 2005, DID covered the success the RQ-11 Raven mini-UAV was enjoying in Iraq. In November 2005, StrategyPage reported that the RQ-11 Raven was also turning heads in what it calls “the commando Olympics” of Afghanistan:

“In addition to all the cooperation, there’s also a lot comparing notes. One thing everyone has noted is the large number of useful gadgets American Special Forces troops have. The most envied item is the American Raven UAV.”

Or at least, mini-UAVS like the Raven. This Spotlight article looks at Special Forces related mini-UAV buys from a number of countries, spurred by requests from troops in theater. The latest update involves a 3rd order from Australia for Skylark UAVs, and a report from the front lines that suggests progress for Britain’s Desert Hawk systems…

• RQ-11: Drawing Raves
• The Commando Olympics: Other Teams are Competing [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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