Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC
The UK Ministry of Defence is expected to combine its Sender unit-level unmanned air vehicle (UAV) requirement with that for the larger Spectator, a brigade-level asset, because of funding constraints, say US industry officials.
The MoD's rethinking was revealed as Sender bidders made presentations following the submission of formal proposals. The MoD invited a dozen companies to bid for the assessment phase of its Sender UAV requirement, including Aerospatiale Matra, Bell Helicopter Textron, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Racal, Raytheon and TRW.
The MoD is expected to select up to four companies this month to assess UAV systems to meet the requirement - including airframes, sensors, control and support - , but the announcement could slip into next month. Each contract is expected to be worth "a couple of million pounds," say the officials.
US industry officials say the MoD indicated that there was "a high probability of combining Sender and Spectator", with the larger air vehicle performing the close-range and short-range tactical reconnaissance and target acquisition missions. Although Spectator would be more expensive to procure, the use of a single type would cut costs. The MoD will not make a final decision until after the study contracts are well under way.
The TRW-led team includes the UK's Aerosystems, Meggitt and Vector Data Systems, Israel Aircraft Industries Malat, and the USA's Micro Craft and S-TEC, which is to be acquired by Meggitt. The team is considering fixed-wing UAVs such as the S-TEC Sentry, IAI Searcher and AI/TRW Hunter. Micro Craft's small ducted fan vertical take-off and landing air vehicle is also being evaluated.
A BAE Systems team includes Bell with the Eagle Eye tiltrotor UAV, General Atomics providing a synthetic aperture radar and the UK's Flight Refuelling, which would build the Eagle Eye under license should the team win.
Source: Flight International