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Death from above
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The Viper Strike began life as the BAT – a canceled munition option for ground-fired ATACMS missiles. After USAF Predator UAVs armed with Hellfire missiles began to show promise in the Global War on Terror, however, US Army planners began to examine their options. Could they place a similar capability in the hands of Army ground commanders? In July 2002, these examinations led to the award of a 90-day contract to demonstrate the possibility of BAT deployment on a modified U.S. Army RQ-5 Hunter UAV.

Those tests went well, and Viper Strikes are currently carried by RQ-5B Hunter UAVs in Iraq – see this video of a Viper Strike in testing [MPG, 13.2 MB]. The weapon’s small size (3 feet long, 44 pounds) and special advantages in urban fights, mountainous terrain, etc. give it a chance of spreading to other platforms. Special Operations Command has shown interest, but without front-line deployment, progress has been very slow.

Is the Viper Strike a case of “the right weapon at the right time”? Or a case of “caught betwixt and between”? A recent announcement may offer some hope for this innovative weapon…

• Viper Strike: The Weapon
• SOCOM’s Solution: Viper Strikes for AC-130s?
• Contracts & Key Events
• Additional Readings

Viper Strike: The Weapon

MQ-5 w. Viper Strikes
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Northrop Grumman’s GBU-44 Viper Strike is a small, precision attack munition with guide/ glide fins and a 4 lb. HEAT warhead. It uses a semi-active laser seeker for the final attack phase. After the bomb is released, it glides to the target’s vicinity, and its seeker then looks for the laser spot from Hunter’s laser target designator and makes final adjustments to its flight. A GPS module can reportedly be added in order to extend its targeting range.

Using its electro-optical or infrared sensors, Hunter is able to locate an enemy vehicle, report its location to the ground commander, receive permission to engage, fire the weapon, guide the weapon with its laser, and after weapon impact, perform battle damage assessment. A new GPS VS variant adds GPS/INS guidance capability.

Since it functions as a top attack weapon, Viper Strike’s compact profile and the small HEAT warhead make it especially useful in urban situations, minimizing collateral damage to people and buildings while still allowing it to kill armored vehicles through their weakest point. Viper Strike uses a self-destruct mechanism to eliminate post-strike hazards in urban areas, and the final version of Viper Strike could have options for optional blast fragmentation or thermobaric (fuel-air explosive) warheads.

Other Viper Strike industrial partners include Elbit Systems of America, who manufactures some of the guidance equipment.

The Viper Strike is known to be compatible with Northrop Grumman’s MQ-5 Hunter UAVs. The latest model is the upgraded MQ-5B, which features a pair of 58 hp heavy fuel engines that can use the same fuel as Army vehicles, bigger wings with additional fuel storage, hard points for pylons/weapons like the Viper Strike, control via the multi-UAV model AAI One System ground control station, and an updated avionics suite. The MQ-5B Hunter first flew in July 2005, and deployed to the front lines a year later. Just under 30 UAVs of this type are in service, but they continue to rack up significant flying hours. By June 2007, the MQ-5A/B Hunter fleet had passed 50,000 total flying hours, half of which were spent on combat missions.

The GBU-44 Viper Strike has a number of remarkable characteristics. The question is whether this will be enough to make it a success. Many of the US Army’s UAVs are smaller RQ-7 Shadows, which are unlikely to be able to carry even a weapon as small as Viper Strike. Above the RQ-5 Hunter, Predator family UAVs like the SkyWarrior, MQ-1 Predator, and MQ-9 Reaper use Hellfire missiles instead.

The GBU-44 could end up in the dreaded product trap of being positioned between 2 distinct market segments, unable to fully satisfy either one. If it’s to enter fuller production, it will need to find a key platform and application.

Iraq’s light “Bird Dog” Cessnas and “King Air ISR” surveillance aircraft offer one obvious emerging opportunity. Another may be found closer to home, with US Special Operations Command (SOCOM).

SOCOM’s Solution: Viper Strikes for AC-130s?

AC-130H Firing
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US Special Operations Command believes that its AC-130 fleet of AC-130H “Spectre” and AC-130U “Spooky” Hercules variants, whose mission is the delivery of massive, accurate firepower into land battles where enemy air defenses are weak, offer an excellent potential platform for Viper Strike. At present, 13 AC-130U Gunships are flown by the 4th Special Operations Squadron (SOS) and 8 AC-130H Gunships are flown by the 16th SOS. Both squadrons are located at Hurlburt Field, FL.

While the AC-130s’ 105mm howitzers, 30mm chain guns, and other weapons are very useful against infantry and light vehicles, Viper Strike offers longer-range precision attack capabilities, plus an anti-armor punch that can make a big difference to pinned special forces units.

John Miller, director of the Viper Strike program for Northrop Grumman’s Land Combat Systems in Huntsville, AL put it this way:

“Right now, the AC-130 uses the 105 mm howitzer, and they wind up flying left hand circles at altitudes between 15,000 to 18,000 feet… That puts them in harm’s way. They would really like to be able to fly at higher altitudes with more survivability, more standoff and also to stay pressurized. We believe that if we take Viper Strike, mount them in a rack, and shoot them through the floor, that we can give them that capability. And not only that, but we can give them the capability to shoot multiple targets types [sic].”

The first phase of this effort will demonstrate the use of the SOPGM Viper Strike from the gunship and begin development of operations concepts, as well as launcher and battle-management systems to optimize use of the Viper Strike/ AC-130 combination. The second phase will demonstrate and assess the military utility of the weapon system on the AC-130, along with the idea of adding a datalink for 2-way communications between the aircraft and the weapon.

As of 2009, the Viper Strike is still “under consideration” for the AC-130 fleet. The weapon has made definite progress on a similar front, however: as part of “Capability IV” for the US Marines’ KC-130J “Harvest Hawk” program, which aims to give Marines the option of clipping surveillance gear and weapons onto any of their aerial tankers. US Navy NAVAIR is sharing information with SOCOM, who may wish to buy the same modular technology for its ordered MC-130Js.

Contracts & Key Events

Viper strike concept

Unless otherwise specified, contracts are awarded by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command in Redstone Arsenal, AL, USA.

Sept 1/09: Northrop Grumman announces that its MQ-5B Hunter UAV has successfully completed testing of the new GPS-guided Viper Strike (GPS VS) at White Sands Missile Range, NM, and that these weapons “will soon deploy to theater on board Hunter in support of contingency operations.”

The announcement is a breakthrough for the Viper Strike, on two fronts. One front is the addition of GPS-based guidance. The other is the fact that Viper Strike had not been deployed to the front lines due to inter-service disagreements, and does not appear to have been been brought to fruition on US Special Operations Command’s AC-130s either. See also StrategyPage.

April 2/09: Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. in Huntsville, AL won an $11.3 million firm-fixed-price contract with cost plus fixed fee, line items contract for Viper Strike Munitions and engineering services. Work is to be performed at Huntsville, AL, with an estimated completion date of April 30/10. One bid was solicited and one bid received (W31P4Q-07-C-0268).

The Viper Strike program has been restructured, consolidating the laser-guided Direct Attack and the new GPS-guided variant into a single version, and changing the Army’s order totals. Instead of 137 Direct Attack munitions, The US Army is ordering 49 of the new GPS-enabled version, plus 15 additional direct attack kits, 3 Hunter integration kits, and MQ-5B Hunter integration, testing, and eventual fielding. US SOCOM is also switching its order to the new GPS-enabled version.

Sept 26/07: Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. in Huntsville, Ala. received a $16.1 million modification to a cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price contract for Viper Strike Munitions and engineering services. Work will be performed in Huntsville, AL and is expected to be complete by Dec 31/08. This was a sole source contract initiated on Sept. 5, 2007 (W31P4Q-07-C-0268).

March 12/07: Northrop Grumman of Linthcum, MD received a $7.4 million contract modification for the demonstration of their Viper Strike munition on the AC-130 gunship as a ranged precision-guided munition. This modification action adds the requirement for the contractor to support an extended user evaluation of the munitions on the AC-130, and brings the current total maximum estimated cost of this contract to $29.4 million (H92222-05-C-0020, Modification P00012).

Work will be performed out of Huntsville, AL, and is incrementally funded based on performance. The initial proof of concept work is to be complete by October 2007.

Feb. 28/07: Northrop Grumman announces that a successful round of RQ-5A Hunter and Viper Strike testing was conducted at White Sands Missile Range, NM in January 2007 against moving and stationary targets. The weapons tests were conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Army’s Program Executive Office (PEO) for Aviation and the PEO for Missiles and Space. See release.

Aug 4/05: Northrop Grumman of Linthcum, MD received a sole-source $22 million cost-plus incentive-fee Advanced Concept of Technology Demonstration contract (H92222-05-C-0020) for the demonstration of their Viper Strike munition as a Stand-off Precision Guided Munition on the AC-130 Specter gunship.

Work on this contract will be performed out of Huntsville, AL and is being incrementally funded based on performance. The initial increment of work was expected to be complete in December 2005, and all Initial Proof of Concept work was expected to be complete by December 2006. The $22-million contract is an Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program with a potential full value of $48.6 million.

Additional Readings

• Defense Update – Viper Strike – Laser Guided Weapon for UAVs

• Special Operations Technology (Aug 18/04) – Viper Strike

• Designation Systems – Northrop Grumman BAT / GBU-44/B Viper Strike

• AUSA 2009 – Joint Attack Munition Systems Overview: Col. Michael Cavalier, Project Manager. Includes Viper Strike and Griffin, also details related Harvest Hawk efforts

• DID Spotlight – Harvest Hawk Aims to Arm USMC’s KC-130J Aerial Tankers. Viper Strike is a confirmed part of Capability IV efforts, which are underway.

• DID (Jan 4/09) – Mortars from Aircraft? The Shadow Knows. Even the Viper Strike is too large for the Army’s RQ-7 Shadow UAVs. The Army, and General Dynamics, think they may have a very simple solution. There aren’t that many intermediate size UAVs in the Army fleet. Could Viper Strike find itself stuck, caught in between the size demands of smaller and larger platforms?

• Armada International (Feb-March 2006) – Unmanned, But Now Armed. Covers UAVs and UCAVs generally; includes Viper Strike coverage.

• USAF (Oct 10/05) – The AC-130U Gunship program explores viper strike capability

• Northrop Grumman (June 15/05) – Northrop Grumman Demonstrates Viper Strike Precision Munition Enhanced with GPS

• National Defense Magazine (April 2005) – Army Developing Tactics for Armed Robotic Aircraft

• Northrop Grumman (Aug 27/03) – Northrop Grumman’s Viper Strike Precision Munition Achieves Perfect Score in U.S. Army UAV Tests