An enhanced version of Northrop Grumman's RQ-8A Fire Scout has been selected as the Class IV unmanned air vehicle for the US Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) programme. But the Boeing/SAICFCS lead systems integration team has deferred selection of three smaller classes of UAV because the technology is not ready.
Boeing FCS programme manager Dennis Muilenburg says Northrop Grumman's vertical take-off and landing UAV was chosen because its payload capability will increase mission flexibility. The improved Fire Scout exceeds the payload requirement of 60kg (130lb), allowing the UAV to carry multiple systems. Northrop Grumman has flown the RQ-8A with both electro-optical/infrared/laser-designator and synthetic-aperture radar/moving-target indication sensors on board, says Class IV capture manager Jim Porter.
The Class IV UAV will be operated at brigade level to provide wide-area surveillance, target acquisition and communications relay. Selection of the other UAVs planned for FCS, ranging in size down to the manpackable Class I, will be delayed six to 12 months to allow technology to mature, says Muilenburg. They are still planned to be part of the FCS Increment I unit of action, which is scheduled for initial operational capability in 2010. FCS is a network of manned and unmanned ground and air vehicles.
Lockheed Martin has teamed with General Atomics, which is offering an extended-range version of its Predator-B endurance UAV for the US Navy's broad area maritime surveillance (BAMS) programme. The Predator B-ER combines the longer wing of the Altair UAV developed for NASA with the fuselage of the turboprop-powered MQ-9 Predator B. The navy wants to deploy BAMS UAVs by 2008.Source: Flight International
