Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Stewart Penney/LONDON
Teams led by BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin UK Government Systems, Northrop Grumman and Racal Defence Systems have been selected by the UK Ministry of Defence to complete 12-month study programmes for the Sender unmanned air vehicle (UAV). The awards will total around £10 million ($15 million).
Sender is a 50km (27nm) range, unit level UAV designed for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR). Assessment Stage 1 will study missions, payloads, command and control (C2), supportability and air vehicles with results due for submission in June next year.
The likely merger of Sender with the 150km range, corps-level Spectator will lead competitors to study a range of UAVs. Industry sources expect the MoD to merge the programmes within months.
Lockheed Martin UK is supported by its Palmdale-based Aeronautics sister company which will supply the air vehicle and sensor technologies, while Hunting Engineering will be responsible for the ground station and some testing. Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA)will provide UAV consultancy services. Lockheed Martin says its Palmdale unit has developed significant UAV technology, which "it is committed to transferring to the UK".
Ryan Aeronautical Center will lead Northrop Grumman's effort with sister companies Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems and Sensors and Logicon - and its UK subsidiary INRI-UK- in supplying expertise on payloads and mission management/C2 respectively. The UK's Smith Group and datalink-specialist Ultra Electronics are also on the team.
The BAE group includes Bell, the developer of the Eagle Eye tiltrotor UAV, while General Atomics will provide data on its Lynx synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Flight Refuelling would build the Eagle Eye under license if the UK selects the UAV.
Although Eagle Eye could handle 150km missions, the study may conclude that a mix of vertical take-off and landing UAVs and conventional UAVs might offer the most cost-effective solution.
A Racal team will build on related work including sensor fusion tasks on the Royal Navy's Future Organic Airborne Early Warning system and Racal's battlefield digitisation systems.
Racal and DERA Malvern have been working on proposals for a SAR that could be carried by fast jets in a pod or fitted in a UAV. Later this year, the MoD intends to issue invitations to tender for a "pod-SAR" to BAE, Elta Systems and Racal.
Source: Flight International
