Northrop Grumman has started construction of a new 10ft (3m) span version of its “Killer Bee” low-altitude, long-endurance blended wing-body UAV as part of plans to compete in an expected combined US Marine Corps and US Navy Tier II tactical UAV competition early in 2007.
The new demonstrator will be capable of 24h endurance says Rick Ludwig, director of unmanned systems business development for Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems.
“We have been working with sizes that vary from a 6ft variant, a 9ft variant and we are in the process of building a 10ft variant” he says.
“The beauty of the aircraft is that its aerodynamic shape gives you great endurance and great payload capacity. Roughly speaking a third of the aircraft is payload, a third of the aircraft is fuel and the other third is aircraft weight itself. A 10ft wingspan aircraft can carry about 50lb (22kg), it weighs about 150lbs and it can stay in the air for about 24h.
Northrop did not bid the USMC Tier II demonstrator phase competition Ludwig says “as we weren’t mature enough for that at this point in time. So we elected to continue the maturity level of the system itself and we will bid on the Tier II programme itself.”
While the long-term roadmap for Killer Bee is intended to result in a fully networked system capable of autonomous swarming operations, that level of capability will be proposed as a growth path for the Tier II requirement, rather than as an entry-level offering.
A new flight-test campaign for the existing Killer Bee demonstrators is about to commence Ludwig says, with this to explore use of the UAV in communications relay roles, and stabilised sensor payloads.
The demonstrators are also about to undergo a series of system enhancements as part of preparation for the Tier II competition, with this including improved guidance and control capabilities, the addition of payload stabilisation systems, and introduction of autonomous landing.
The existing launch and recovery system is based on catapult launch and capturing the UAV in a large net at the end of the mission. However, the recovery phase is currently dependent on remote piloting of the UAV. Ludwig says: “We are looking at the next stage of that, to make the aircraft truly autonomous, to give it autonomous landing into the net.”
Efforts are underway to ensure the catapult used in the mature system “get a heck of a lot smaller and when we get the autonomous level in place for landing, to even make that net smaller.”
Net recovery systems were previously used by the USN for recovery of its Pioneer UAV series aboard large warships. However that methodology was disliked by crews because of uncertainties about aircraft position, potentially leading to crashes into the ship structure rather than the net.
Ludwig acknowledges those concerns but says the greater level of precision being proposed should result in an acceptable solution: “We have been pretty much focusing on the net landing and with the autonomous level, it will take some acceptance, but we are going to have to crawl, walk, and run as we proceed down that path.”
Future phases of development are tentatively being drawn together to explore weaponisation: “We want to look at that in the future with some of the very small weapons such as the [USN Navy’s developmental] SPIKE small missile.”
Small electronic attack payloads are also being explored: “That is something that is near and dear to the Marine Corps heart, with the demise of the [Grumman] EA-6B”.
The original Killer Bee airframe was developed by the Californian racing-car body-manufacturer Swift Engineering.
Ludwig describes the UAV as being a “very aerodynamically sound aircraft, so much so that we think you could toss it out the back of another aircraft and it would right itself and start the engine. We are looking at possibly being able to deploy these from other aircraft – manned aircraft and unmanned aircraft.”
Source: FlightGlobal.com
