GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC
Department of Defense has approved 15 projects for fiscal year 2002, with three more awaiting funding
The US Department of Defense (DoD) is canvassing allied interest in participating in its latest advanced concept technology demonstrations (ACTDs), most of which are focused on countering terrorism. The products of 30 previous ACTDs are already supporting counter-terrorism activities, the DoD says, including a thermobaric bomb used for the first time against caves in Afghanistan on 5 March.
ACTDs are intended to speed up the transition of technology to the frontline by allowing early military utility demonstrations and the development of operational concepts. The DoD has approved 15 ACTDs for fiscal year 2002, with three more to be started if funding can be secured. Several projects involve unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). "The UK attended our kick-off meeting and is very interested inUAVs," says Sue Payton, deputy undersecretary of defense for advanced systems and concepts.
Funded projects include the Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) and Expendable UAV (X-UAV). The MAV is a 150-230mm (6-9in) "backpackable" UAV with a low-cost electro-optical/infrared sensor that could be hand-launched by soldiers to provide short-range reconnaissance in urban areas. The project will evaluate miniature UAVs from an earlier Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency MAV technology demonstration, including BAE Systems' MicroStar.
The X-UAV, which includes an air-launched extended-range transporter, involves a low-cost, longer-range/loiter expendable UAV that would be used to provide persistent surveillance, bomb damage assessment, weapons of mass destruction monitoring and covert delivery of unattended ground sensors. The DoD says Raytheon's SilentEyes is an example of the technology to be demonstrated under this ACTD.
The Hyperspectral Collection and Analysis System (HYCAS) project will develop a system to task, process, exploit and disseminate imagery from a hyperspectral sensor capable of detecting camouflaged and concealed targets. "The key is to get [the sensor] on to the right operational platform that can get into enemy territory and persist and find these targets," says Lt Col John Wilcox, military assistant to Payton. The Northrop Grumman Global Hawk or similar UAV is a likely platform for the dual-frequency radar sensor, he says.
Under another ACTD, the DoD plans to demonstrate a thermobaric penetrator payload capable of destroying enemy tunnels. Thermobaric weapons create a conflagration that sucks the air out of a cave complex, and a 900kg (2,000lb) bomb developed under a project launched last year was used for the first time in Afghanistan. The new ACTD will look at better payloads, and concepts of operations.
Funding is still being secured for the Agent Defeat ACTD, which will build on 10 years of work to develop weapons capable of destroying biological and chemical agents. This shows that no single payload works against every threat, Wilcox says, so an air-deliverable weapon will be developed to host a variety of kill mechanisms effective against different agents - heat to defeat biological threats and chemicals to neutralise other agents.
Source: Flight International
