Unmanned combat aerial vehicles: dawn of a new age? - Focus: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Aerospace Power Journal, Summer, 2002 by Robert E. Col. Chapman, II

Part of phase three would include construction of a third demonstrator system featuring the X-45B air vehicle, which would incorporate all LO design elements envisioned for the UOS to allow for in-flight signature validation and evaluation of LO maintainability. Additional periods of simulation, ground, and flight test are planned, eventually culminating in a full mission demonstration during which several X45s will operate in conjunction with manned aircraft as part of a joint strike force. (15) If the demonstration proves successful, DOD officials believe that initiation of an EMD effort in 2007 might yield an initial operational capability in fiscal year 2015. (16)

Naval Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle Advanced Technology Demonstration

The UCAV-N ATD (fig. 4), a joint effort between DARPA and the Office of Naval Research, seeks to demonstrate the technical feasibility of a UCAV system that can effectively and affordably provide persistent, sea-based SEAD, strike, and surveillance capability. (17) The program proposes to extend knowledge gained from the UCAV ATD into the maritime environment and examine aspects of UCAV operations unique to the Navy.

UGAV-N program goals for SEAD and strike are virtually identical to those of the Air Force program. UCAV-N program officials wish to leverage the results of the Air Force UCAV program to avoid duplication of effort. They characterize the interplay between the two programs as "almost a leader-follower relationship" and plan to explore only those areas that are significantly different in their naval applications or those emerging areas that promise advantages to both programs. (18)

UCAV-N System Description

Like the Air Force UCAV, the UCAV-N will conduct both preemptive and reactive DEAD missions as well as strike missions against fixed, relocatable, and mobile targets. The UCAV-N differs significantly from the Air Force version in three areas. First, it has adopted a 12-hour endurance goal to facilitate both maritime and battle-area surveillance. Second, the system must operate, launch, and recover in the crowded and confined carrier environment. Moreover, it must do so without imposing costly modifications to the ship's layout or disrupting the well-established routine of the carrier's operating cycles. Finally, the UCAV-N vision includes daily peacetime flight operations with no provision for long-term, dormant system storage. Again, like the Air Force UCAV, UCAV-N ATD efforts are distributed among three segments--air vehicle, mission control, and supportability.

Air Vehicle Segment. Designs for the demonstration vehicle have not been finalized. Contractor teams are still defining their vision for an operational UCAV-N and designing an appropriate demonstration system. Some general vehicle characteristics, however, are emerging. As in the case of the Air Force UCAV, UCAV-N contractor teams are pursuing tailless, LO platforms optimized for high-altitude, subsonic cruise and featuring an internal weapons carriage. Senior program officials anticipate contractor proposals for an aircraft with an empty weight of 10,000 to 15,000 pounds. (19) Weapons payload is likely to exceed 4,000 pounds.