MYSTERY SURROUNDS the fate of the TRW/Israel Aircraft Industries Hunter short-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and the future of the much-awaited close-range UAV.
A meeting between Paul Kaminiski, the Pentagon's acquisition chief, and senior US military officials on 22 November failed to produce a strategy for the development of the close-range Manoeuvre UAV, which has been renamed the Tactical UAV.
Kaminski's go-ahead is needed before the UAV Joint Programme Office can issue the final request for proposals (RFP). The meeting was to have decided whether the close-range drone would become a fast-track Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration programme.
No consensus emerged on how best to proceed with the UAV programme, and Kaminski says that he will not authorise release of the final RFP until issues such as cost and minimum operating range are resolved. No follow-up meeting has been scheduled, and it is unclear when contractors can now expect to see the final RFP.
The fate of the troubled short-range Hunter Joint Tactical UAV programme was to have been determined at a separate meeting at the Defense Acquisition Board on 4 December. It was postponed, however, for unknown reasons and no new date has been set.
When the Pentagon's senior advisory group next meets, it will decide whether to recommend termination of the Hunter programme, as advocated by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC), or to allow Hunter production to accelerate.
Decisions are also required on whether the US Navy will accept a system for testing, and what should happen to existing Hunter systems in service with the US Army if it is decided that the programme should be ended.
The JROC says that the close-range UAV should also fulfil the naval requirement, although the Senate Armed Services Committee maintains that the Pentagon should investigate whether a vertical-take-off-and-landing UAV could perform the USN mission. The committee is concerned about the suitability of a tactical fixed-wing UAV for naval forces.
Also at stake is whether Hunter upgrades - including the development of a common automated recovery system, a heavy-fuel engine and software - should continue, since such upgrades tend to be applicable to other UAV programmes.
Source: Flight International
