The US Air Force wants to speed up the General Atomics MQ-9 Predator B programme to meet its demand for an armed unmanned air vehicle capable of holding targets at risk for extended periods. The move could lead to the service fielding the Predator B with less capability than originally envisaged, then launching a spiral development programme modelled on that under way for the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk.
"The latest guidance is to accelerate the capability. We want what [General Atomics] can give us now, because the demand is there," says Maj John Ritter of the USAF Air Combat Command's directorate of requirements. General Atomics was awarded a $15.7 million contract in late 2002 to deliver two commercially developed Predator Bs for operational tests in 2005.
Powered by a Honeywell TPE331 turboprop, the 4,550kg (10,000lb) gross weight MQ-9 is designed to carry 1,360kg externally - six GPS- or laser-guided 225kg bombs - with a 16h endurance in combat configuration. This compares with 12h for the 1,000kg gross weight MQ-1 Predator A armed with just two AGM-114 Hellfire laser-guided missiles. The Predator B's cruise speed is 200kt (370km/h), against 70kt for the piston-powered MQ-1.
Whereas the $3.3 million MQ-1 is a surveillance UAV with armed capability, the $6 million MQ-9 is intended as a hunter-killer with surveillance as a secondary mission, says Ritter. Fire control will be based on the 0.1m-resolution General Atomics APY-8 Lynx synthetic-aperture radar, with ground moving-target indication, and a Raytheon electro-optical/infrared sensor.
The Predator Bs that General Atomics will deliver for operational testing will only be able to drop GPS-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition bombs on pre-programmed targets.
Source: Flight International
