Flight testing of an armed General AtomicsRQ-1A Predator unmanned air vehicle (UAV) will go forward within several months now that arms control issues, which held up the flight trials, have been resolved.
The so-called weaponised Predator demonstration was planned to start on 17 November, but flight testing was suspended pending a determination by US Department of Defense (DoD) lawyers as to whether the demonstration is allowed by existing arms control agreements signed by the USA (Flight International, 7-13 November 2000).
Of concern was whether anarmed RQ-1A would violate the 1988 Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces treaty, which bars the fielding of ground-launched cruise missiles capable of flying unrefuelled between 500 and 5,000km (270-2,700nm). At issue was whether the agreement also restricts deployment of armed and ground-launched UAVs.
Ronald Mutzelburg, deputy director for air warfare within the Office of Strategic and Tactical Systems, says DoD lawyers believe that the armed Predator trials would not violate any existing arms control treaties.
As a result, senior DoD officials have given the US Air Force permission to go ahead with the demonstration, and a USAF official says it will begin "in the very near future".
The USAF is keen to conduct the flight tests since UAVs would be armed with in-development miniaturised munitions to attack time-critical and mobile targets, and conduct special operations.
A successful demonstration could well lead to doctrine development for armed UAVs, including unmanned combat air vehicles.
Predator will be equipped with the Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank missile for the tests. Initial flight testing will include low-altitude missile launches. If the tests validate the concept, a second round of trials will follow.
Source: Flight International
