Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC
The competition to demonstrate an unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) is to be limited to four companies - Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon Systems - says the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
A request for proposals is to be released on 9 March. Up to four contracts will be awarded in late April for the initial study phase.
DARPA is encouraging teaming, but says only the four companies named meet all the necessary requirements to lead the teams. Foreign companies will not been allowed to participate because the UCAV designs are likely to incorporate "previously developed advanced technologies that require special security protection", DARPA says.
The initial role foreseen for the UCAV is as a "first day of the war force enabler", operating alongside manned strike aircraft on "post-2010" missions to provide pre-emptive and reactive suppression of enemy air defences. It would subsequently provide "continuous vigilance" over the target area, with the ability to strike in all weathers.
DARPA envisages a stealthy vehicle with an empty weight of around 3,600kg, and a payload of about 900kg. DARPA expects it to have less than one-third of the unit cost of a Joint Strike Fighter, and that operating and support costs would be 50-80% lower than for today's tactical fighters.
Multiple UCAVs will be managed by a single land-, sea- or air-based control station, while small smart munitions will allow multiple targets to be attacked on a single mission, DARPA says.
Multiple $4 million, 10 month Phase I contracts will cover design on a UCAV operational system and preliminary design of a UCAV demonstrator system. One contractor will be awarded a $110 million contract in early 1999 to build two demonstrator vehicles and a mission control station. Flight tests are scheduled to begin in late 2001.
The US Air Force will manage the second phase of the UCAV demonstration, which is planned to lead into a risk reduction and operational evaluation programme. If these phases successfully demonstrate "the technical feasibility, operational utility and affordability" of a UCAV, engineering and manufacturing development could begin by late 2004, leading to possible service entry before 2015.
DARPA says that the demonstrator vehicles will be shaped for stealth, but may not incorporate signature reducing materials or treatments. The UCAV is expected to be tailless and unstable, with fly by light controls, electric actuators and thrust vectoring. Testing is expected to build up from full pilot in the loop control to semi-autonomous operation.
Source: Flight International
