Electronic attack is among the few airborne mission areas still out of reach of unmanned aircraft, but this position could be about to change, believes Bruce King, Rockwell Collins’ vice-president for government systems. The company is promoting its 32kg (70lb) Rubicon II electronic warfare (EW) suite to the unmanned air vehicle sector, and appears to have found a willing customer under an increasingly popular proposal to launch a Joint Electronic Attack Unmanned Vehicle (JEAUV) advanced concept technology demonstration (ACTD) effort in fiscal year 2007.
The JEAUV concept began as an outgrowth to the Department of Defense’s draft EW roadmap and the USA’s first unmanned electronic attack platform is planned to be derived from the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems programme after 2010. “The idea of the ACTD is to accelerate that process,” says Rob Walker, a US Navy EW researcher assigned to lead the JEAUV effort. Walker says he is still in the process of selecting a mature unmanned aircraft platform for the demonstration, but has already identified the Rubicon II as a favoured mission payload.
Designed to detect and jam frequencies from 20-2,500MHz, Rubicon II is to meet a US Marine Corps requirement for a ground-based communication emitter sensing and attack and mobile EW support system.
Rockwell says the design is also being expanded to counter improvised explosive devices.
STEPHEN TRIMBLE/WHITE MARSH,MARYLAND
Source: Flight International
