The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) says one of two mini unmanned air vehicles (UAV) in development will be selected before the end of this year as an airborne sensor platform for the Future Combat System (FCS) programme.
DARPA selected Honeywell and Micro Craft to lead teams to flight test mini-UAVs as part of the Organic Air Vehicle (OAV) programme. This builds on the Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) project, developing technologies for a 150mm (6in) UAV. DARPA says a larger vehicle will be required for the FCS, a DARPA effort aimed at developing lightweight, robotic fighting vehicles that would enter service with the US Army around 2015.
Under the 36-month cost-sharing OAV programme, the teams will each flight test a family of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) air vehicles scalable from 230mm to 740mm. Sam Wilson, the OAV programme manager, says the FCS contractors will then select the size of OAV to integrate into their designs.
The VTOL mini-UAV will take off, land and refuel autonomously from the unmanned FCS vehicle. The sensor-equipped OAV would fly off and "perch and stare", acting as a "relocatable unmanned ground sensor", says Wilson.
The Micro Craft-led iSTAR OAV team - which includes Alturdyne, Athena Technologies, DSTAR Engineering and TRW - will demonstrate 230mm and 740mm lift augmented ducted fan vehicles. These are able to hover and fly at high speed by pitching over towards a near horizontal attitude. Flight testing was initiated in late 2000 with the air vehicle successfully transitioning from the hover to high-speed flight.
Supporting Honeywell are AeroVironment, MLB, NASA Ames Research Center, Cypress International and D-STAR Engineering and Technology.
Both teams will conduct flight demonstrations prior to a selection of one team by 31 December. The winner will continue flight testing next year before participating in a major experiment with FCS contenders in 2003.
Source: Flight International
