Industry is being challenged by the US Navy to come forward with innovative proposals for fielding a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned air vehicle (UAV) by 2008/9. The USN wants to address a growing gap in its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities as the result of an ageing fleet of Lockheed Martin P-3C Orions and the planned retirement of shipboard Lockheed Martin S-3B Viking patrol aircraft.
The USN has outlined a timetable for meeting its Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) requirement starting with the completion of an analysis of alternatives by Mitre (Flight International, 10-17 September), drawing up a set of capabilities requirements and issuing a request for proposals by the end of June. Full-scale development is to start in early 2004 with the goal of providing an initial operational capability (IOC) in fiscal year 2008.
"An IOC of 2008 is the soonest we can deliver a system to address the growing ISR gap," says Lt Cdr Brent Klavon, BAMS requirement officer. BAMS is intended to build on the Global Hawk maritime demonstration due to start in 2005 with the delivery of two Northrop Grumman RQ-4As. The UAV will be a land-based adjunct to the Multimission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) successor to the P-3, not due to be deployed before 2012.
The USN's urgent requirement poses a number of challenges that it is looking to industry to answer. The navy's initial concept is for a platform capable of operating at 360kt (670km/h), at least 40,000ft (12,200m) altitude for survivability and with more than 24h endurance, but says it needs industry's input to properly defining persistent surveillance, determine the required number of UAVs and decide on mission-capable rates, support and manning levels.
Notionally, the navy is looking at forward basing around five UAVs and a tactical support centre (TSC) at five existing P-3 locations: Diego Garcia, Indian Ocean; Jacksonville, Florida; Kadena, Japan; Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii; and Sigonella, Sicily; to provide worldwide fleet support. The most demanding scenario is covering the Persian Gulf from Diego Garcia, requiring the launch of a UAV every 14h for continual presence. For additional flexibility, there could be the option of a mobile operational control centre for vehicle control, mission planning and sensor data processing.
Each TSC will have full control over the UAV from launch to recovery, with the future MMA equipped for in-theatre control of both platform and sensors and surface battlegroups capable of tactical payload control. Capabilities as now identified will encompass reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, surveillance, targeting, damage assessment and communications relay.
The sensor suite will include a radar with wide-scan search, synthetic aperture (SAR), spot SAR, inverse SAR and maritime, ground and, eventually, air moving target indicator modes, an electro-optical/infrared imager, electronic and communication intelligence gathering package and voice/data relay. Other issues being tackled include bandwidth for system control, data collection and dissemination, as well as the feasibility of modular UAV mission payloads.
Source: Flight International
