Northrop Grumman is downselected for US programme as negotiations are held with two more candidates
Northrop Grumman has been downselected for the design phase of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) project, with a second team to be chosen, possibly this week. The project's design phase may also be extended.
DARPA director Dr Anthony Tether says following Northrop Grumman's selection, two other teams are being evaluated from a shortlist of four. "We are just awarding the second phase of [UCAR]...We are still negotiating with two more."
Boeing is widely tipped to be the second downselected contender, although Tether says the competition is tight. The other teams are led by Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky. The remaining teams in the competition received a request for clarification on details of their bid from DARPA earlier this month.
Northrop Grumman is teamed with BAE Systems North America, Kaman Aerospace and L-3 Communications. The air vehicle is derived from Kaman's K-MAX helicopter.
UCAR project planning had been based on a nine-month design phase to be followed by a source selection, a 30-month demonstration system construction and36 months of test and evaluation. Options include extending the design phase to 15 months with a source selection in the third quarter of next year.
Consideration is being given to accelerating US Army service entry by up to five years, rather than an initial operational capability being fielded in 2015.
No schedule modifications are expected to be released before finalisation of the design contracts with the two shortlisted companies.
Boeing's Canard Rotor Wing prototype is to resume flight testing by early August pending clearance of modifications to software and subsystem hardware. Eleven flights are planned, including demonstration of transition from vertical to horizontal mode for the first time.Source: Flight International
