Project Noctua: CF seeks "little owl" for Kandahar

Esprit de Corps, June, 2008 by Darcy Knoll

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It has been common knowledge in military circles that the CF's fleet of Sperwer unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, pictured above at CFB Wainwright) are in a dismal need of replacement. Back in December 2006 when Esprit de Corps asked Army Commander Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie about his major equipment needs he was unequivocal in his response: helicopters and "a higher-level UAV than the current Sperwer."

Again, a year later in 2007 former air force commander Steve Lucas said, "[Afghanistan is] a very challenging and demanding environment we're flying this platform in and the Sperwer from an aircraft or air-worthiness perspective is relatively early generation. Ultimately, what we'd like to have in theatre is something that has more persistence."

Such conventional wisdom was not lost on the independent Afghanistan panel headed by John Manley. In its release the group noted that the extension of the mission should be hinged in part on the acquisition of new medium-lift helicopters and UAVs, along with 1,000 additional soldiers.

With this report essentially morphing into policy, the requirement became a new cornerstone for Parliament's decision to extend the mission in Kandahar.

As such, the folks at the material acquisitions branch in the Defence Department had to get the ball rolling on a plan to equip the troops with some fancy UAVs. Thus, in mid-February the military issued a letter of interest for Project Noctua--Latin for little owl--followed by a full-on request for proposals in April, which closed May 20th.

According to the document, the military is seeking "a leased and contractor maintained unmanned air vehicle system to support Canadian troops in Afghanistan." Valued at an estimated $95 million, Project Noctua will work as a two-year lease deal with the contractor with the option of an additional year. Although the specific arrangements will be worked out with the eventual winner, this lease will essentially require the contractor to take on the maintenance and operation of the UAV system at the direction of the military.

According to the RFP, defence planners are looking for a UAV that has a 90 per cent availability 12 hours on station. These drones must be able to "gather and transmit high quality, imagery from a distance 100 km from Kandahar, Afghanistan."

When Project Noctua first came out it was believed by many that this was California-based General Atomics' competition to lose. Last year word in Ottawa was that the military proposed to cabinet a $500 million sole-sourced contract to purchase GA's Predator UAV. However, as the government was already facing criticism over the perceived sole-sourcing of Boeing C-17 strategic aircraft, Chinook helicopters, and Lockheed Martin's C-130J aircraft, the idea of dropping half a billion dollars without competition simply wouldn't sit well with the finicky stomachs of political Ottawa.

Hence it seemed only natural that Noctua was merely a moniker for Predator. However, that does not appear to be the case after all. According to a statement from Thomas J. Cassidy, Jr., president of General Atomics' Aircraft Systems Group, the company has declined to submit a bid for Project Noctua. Instead, the statement says that the company is focusing their "efforts on the long-term JUSTAS program and intend to promote the multi-mission Predator B" unmanned aerial system. The Joint Unmanned Surveillance Target Acquisition System (JUSTAS) program has been a point of discussion in UAV-minded circles for quite some time. This long-term purchase will look to acquire surveillance drones for the air force at a timetable that will not hit the urgent needs of the Manley panel as it is not expected to be awarded until at least 2010. For JUSTAS, General Atomics boasts, "The purchase of Predator B offers the best value solution and ensures that Canada's [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] needs are met today and far into the future."

With General Atomics opting out of Noctua, it appears that the government will have to decide between two Israeli UAVs to meet its needs in Afghanistan. At the time of press, the two main competitors are B.C.-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) partnered with Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) against a consortium originally comprising of Mirabel, Quebec's L3-MAS, Elbit Systems and Thales. However, Mark Aruja, business development manager of air programs for Thales Canada, told Esprit de Corps at the time of press that his company "did not submit a bid." He would not elaborate further.

According to David Hargreaves, vice-president of MDA's Integrated Information Solutions business unit, his team will be pushing IAI's Heron UAV. He said these drones are well known for their reliability and endurance. Although he would not reveal which model they will be offering to Canada, the Heron I has an endurance of 45 hours and a range of 350 kilometres. These UAVs can submit satellite coverage from a height beyond the line of sight and are able to reach an altitude of 30,000 feet. According to Hargreaves, these drones are currently used by Israel, India, France, and a number of confidential countries.