The US Department of Defense (DoD) is to hold talks in April with France, Germany and the UK over possible involvement in the next phases of the high-altitude-endurance unmanned air vehicle (HAE UAV) and other programmes now being pursued under its new advanced-concept-technology demonstration (ACTD) initiative.
Paul Kaminski, undersecretary of defense, acquisition and technology, said at the roll-out of the Tier II Plus Global Hawk at Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical's San Diego site in California on 20 February that a special session has been allocated for the talks at the Four Powers meeting in April.
"The talks will look at ways to bring the allies into the ACTD. It will help us gain new perspectives and will involve open discussion on other ACTDs as well as the UAVs," he says. Kaminski adds that the talks will focus on bringing in each nation's particular skills, such as the UK's expertise at "simulation and large-scale modelling".
International interest in the DoD's high-altitude UAV programmes has grown since 1994, when the US Government first sponsored studies to address battlefield-reconnaissance shortfalls revealed during 1991's Operation Desert Storm. The studies led to the joint efforts by the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which emerged as the Tier Two Plus and Tier Three Minus programmes. Overseas interest is being encouraged by Kaminski.
The UAV effort has not been without its problems, and is several months behind schedule following the crash of the Lockheed Martin/ Boeing DarkStar and the subsequent slow-down of the Global Hawk project. The UAV was originally due to be flown on 17 December, 1996, but is now expected to have its first flight in early September. The delay is partly blamed on a re-assessment of the flight-control system and the design of the software code following the DarkStar crash, as well as unforeseen integration problems.
"It's running later than originally scheduled, but the advantage of the ACTD concept is that this will allow us to get large numbers of Global Hawks in the field in one-third, or even half, the time it would have taken us to do this before," adds Kaminski. "Our work is only one-third done and a big piece will be flight-testing. Another big piece will be learning how to use this as a reconnaissance tool. It's been said that this may replace the U-2, but we may find out that we can use this in a different sort of way," he says.
Up to eight Global Hawks and six DarkStars are planned for the next phase of the UAV effort, which is to run until the end of 2001 (fiscal year 2000). "We're just beginning to discuss the procurement of the next lot of air vehicles for that phase," says the director of the HAE UAV joint programme office, Chuck Heber. There will be a 24-month demonstration period after initial flight trials are completed. Air Combat Command will then decide on supporting a request for further procurement.
Opinions are divided on how many Tier II Plus vehicles this could represent, although US Air Force Global Hawk programme manager Col Doug Carlson says that "between 25 and 40" will probably be needed. The first vehicle will be moved to Edwards AFB in California in May for more tests.
Source: Flight International
