RQ-16: Future Combat Systems’ Last UAV Survivor Falls

Class 1 MAV

The USA’s Future Combat Systems Class I UAV is intended for reconnaissance, security and target acquisition operations in nearly all terrain, including urban environments. Each system of 2 vertical take-off and landing air vehicles, a dismounted control device, and associated ground support equipment. They can be carried by selected platforms and dismounted soldiers, and possess autonomous flight, navigation, and recovery.

The larger Class II and Class III UAV development programs were canceled in favor of existing options: the RQ-7 Shadow, and MQ-1C SkyWarrior. The planned Class IV MQ-8B Fire Scout was canceled by the Army in 2009, though it will see naval use. Despite excellent field reports for mini-UAV competitors like the RQ-11 Raven, however, Honeywell’s hovering RQ-16 “T-Hawk” initially avoided the axe, found a niche, and made the list for the US Army’s early increment 1 Brigade Combat Team Modernization fielding. It has even seen limited exports – but the Class I program has been canceled.

Rapid Fire September 19, 2012: DoD Contract Spending

• The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published a data-rich report [PDF] on defense contract spending from 1990 to 2011, based in large part on FPDS data. This has a number of limitations, such as limited visibility into Air Force obligations given their significant use of classified contracts that are not filed in the FPDS database. The document includes a good number of interesting charts that track products vs. services, and relative obligations among and within the three major components. The Navy looks set to become again the biggest recipient among them, as it was before the Army saw a post-9/11 obligations boom that has been receding since 2008. The authors note that: