07 May 15. Problems ahead for Navy’s carrier-based drone program. The debate surrounding the primary operational role of Navy’s Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) system, thought to be a major pillar for the future force, could pose an existential threat to the program at large, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office. Uncertainty and waffling over whether UCLASS’ role would consist of either mainly “surveillance with limited strike or mainly strike with limited surveillance,” has not only produced delays in the program, but could significantly the costs of the program, the report said. The Navy’s vision for UCLASS was “to address a capability gap in sea-based surveillance and to enhance the Navy’s ability to operate in highly contested environments defended by measures such as integrated air defenses or anti-ship missiles,” according to the report. GAO said the Navy expects to spend at least $3bn by 2020 on UCLASS. The service in 2013 awarded a total of $60m in contracts to Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Atomics and Northrop Grumman for design work. UCLASS was highlighted in the Defense Department’s 2013 Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap, which called for smarter, networked drones across air, sea and land. Under this guise, UCLASS could perform critical ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) and strike capabilities. Being carrier-based, UCLASS would provide for greater self-reliance, especially in the context of the rebalance toward the Asia and Pacific. The U.S. military currently relies on several countries to host their unmanned aircraft. The Navy’s Maritime Strategy, released in March, places great importance on the ability to conduct critical ISR, especially with the high-altitude, long endurance MQ-4C Triton. Additionally, the Navy indicated that it currently must heavily rely on the Air Force’s ISR capabilities. But some in Congress, such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), have argued that UCLASS should emphasize strike capability. (Source: Defense Systems)
12 May 15. The US Air Force Wants You to Build a Drone Engine. The US Air Force announced a $2m prize for the US citizen who can design the best new drone engine. It’s the largest prize ever from a military service, according to Air Force Lt. Col. Aaron Tucker. Here’s what the Air Force is looking for. “A successful 100-horsepower turbo shaft engine that operates on Jet A fuel, demonstrate a brake-specific fuel consumption greater than 0.55 pounds of fuel per horsepower per hour, and generate at least 2.0 horsepower per pound,” Tucker told drone designers at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The overall goal: create a power plant with the fuel efficiency of a piston engine and the low weight of a turbine engine.
A 100-horsepower engine may sound like a small deal, and in a way it is, but that doesn’t mean it’s insignificant. It’s about the same output as the 115-hp engine that drives the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator drone.
Tucker told his audience that there’s currently no destination platform for the engine. Instead, it’s an attempt to spur innovation in the weight and horsepower class occupied by the Predator, the most significant unmanned military platform that the world has ever seen. “What we’re seeing is a lot of activity down here for small UAVs, a lot of systems that are in production up here for large drones like the MQ-9 Reaper and Global Hawk, and this seems to be a place where we can stand to get some technology investment.”
The Predator first flew in 1994 as a spy drone. It wasn’t until 2004, when the Air Force armed it with Hellfire missiles during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, that Predator became synonymous with the US drone war and all the policy problems that have flowed from it. Long since surpassed in sophistication and capability, the MQ-1 has a range of 460 miles and endurance of 24 hours, it h