The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) intends to provide $1.5 million in stopgap funding to both contractors bidding for the Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) programme. The bridge contracts will allow work to continue while "DARPA and the US Army discuss Phase 3 funding issues", says the agency. The army is thought to be reconsidering a previous decision to withdraw its support for the project.
Phase 3 of the project is to be awarded to either Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman, which are competing for the ambitious development effort. The next 30-month phase of the programme had been scheduled to launch shortly after the 18-month Phase 2 concluded in early October.
"Our plan continues to be to award full Phase 3 funding to a single contractor team once these issues are resolved," says DARPA.
The bridge contracts will provide funding for each team to begin detailed design work based on the results of the Phase 2 effort. In Phase 2 simulations, contractor teams demonstrated that the unmanned rotorcraft could be controlled by manned aircraft without overloading the crew.
The Lockheed Martin vehicle is based on the Bell 407. Northrop Grumman has proposed a vehicle based on Kaman's K-Max, with intermeshing rotors. Northrop Grumman completed the first autonomous flight of an RMAX UCAR surrogate vehicle on 7 October. The vehicle transitioned to an 8min autonomous flight after being remotely piloted to 200ft (60m), then landed using remote control.
STEPHEN TRIMBLE / WASHINGTON DC
Source: Flight International
