PETER LA FRANCHI / BRUSSELS
Details of long-endurance maritime and smaller coastal surveillance aircraft revealed at Brussels conference
The US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has unveiled plans for a new long-endurance maritime patrol unmanned air vehicle that would be carried and launched by Lockheed Martin P-3 surveillance aircraft. A new small coastal surveillance UAV is also being studied.
The long-endurance maritime UAV, designated Duster, is based on an expansion of the airframe and folding-wing concepts first developed for the NRL Finder chemical agent detection "daughter" UAV now being delivered to the US Air Force. These will be deployed from General Atomics MQ-1/9 Predator UAVs. The new coastal surveillance UAV is designated Spotlight.
Initial details of the new UAVs were unveiled at the Unmanned Systems Technology Conference in Brussels on 3 December.
Joe Maskell, co-principal investigator on NRL's Dragon Eye UAV programme, says Duster marries "the airborne launch capability of Finder aircraft with the ground station developed for [NRL's prototype] Dragon Warrior [UAV]Éto develop a reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition aircraft that could be carried by a P-3 or some other large patrol aircraft".
He says the operational concept is for the UAV to perform close-in missions in high-threat areas that would present a direct threat to a manned mother aircraft. "It would allow a stand-off range of 160nm [295km] or so, as well as having two or three different sensors, each with a targeting quality."
The UAV would have a 6.1m (20ft) unfolded wingspan and a length of 3.66m. Folded on a wing pylon it would occupy a space measuring 3.7 x 0.53 x 0.64m. Gross weight would be 136kg with endurance projected at 20h.
The Spotlight UAV is based on a twin-tailboom, outboard wing design. It is intended to fly for 28min to investigate targets at about 20km from the launch boat. The UAV would weigh a maximum of 5.4kg, including a 1.3kg payload. Stowed, it would fit into a 1.55 x 0.67 x 0.24m storage container.
The UAV would reuse the electric propulsion, sensors and ground station from Dragon Eye. Maskell says that the objective is to develop an "eyes extender" for US Coast Guard cutters and shore-based surveillance stations. He adds that while design work has started on both new UAVs, sponsors are still to be found.
Source: Flight International
