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08 Nov 22. UK Launches Post-Mosquito Combat Drone Project. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has launched an industry engagement effort to develop low-cost unmanned air systems following the June scrapping of the Mosquito ‘loyal wingman’ combat drone project.
The initiative is part of a follow-on effort to the Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) program and “wider uncrewed system development,” an MoD notice stated.
The November 29 engagement will inform participants of the “intent for additive/adjunct capability in the combat air force mix” and provide them with the “opportunity to consider how they could best contribute to Air’s intent.”
The ministry underlined that the engagement will be of particular interest to players specializing in “[drone] design and manufacture, propulsion, systems integration, navigation, communication, Electronic Warfare payloads (active and passive), autonomy, command and control, airworthiness and certification.”
‘Loyal Wingman’ Project Scrapped
The MoD launched the LANCA in 2015 to “understand innovative combat air technologies and concepts that offer radical reductions in cost and development time.”
As part of the effort, Northern Ireland’s Spirit AeroSystems was awarded a 30-m-pound ($33 m) contract in 2021 to develop a technology demonstrator of a loyal wingman-type unmanned aircraft by 2023.
Called the Mosquito, the drone was supposed to “fly at high-speed alongside fighter jets, armed with missiles, surveillance and electronic warfare technology.”
Once built, a decision concerning follow-on production was to be made.
However, the Royal Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO) pulled the plug on the concept in 2022 following a “detailed review of the technical demonstrator.”
Lessons Learned
The office underlined that the decision will “not impact on the wider intent to build the most capable and cost-effective force mix possible, or the ‘Loyal Wingman’ concepts.”
Reacting to the decision, head of the RCO Air Commodore Jez Holmes said,
“Through Project Mosquito and other experimentation activities the Royal Air Force has made substantial progress and gained significant value in understanding and harnessing a range of future uncrewed capabilities.
This decision maximizes the learning accrued to date and enables a change of direction for the LANCA programme. The Rapid Capabilities Office will now quickly launch activities to aggressively pursue the RAF’s unchanged firm commitment to integrating advanced uncrewed capabilities into the near-term force mix with more immediate beneficial value.” (Source: UAS VISION/The Defense Post)
09 Nov 22. Airshow China 2022: AVIC displays Wing Loong-3. China’s state-owned aerospace and defence prime Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) is displaying the latest variant of the Wing Loong series of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – Wing Loong-3 (WL-3) – at the Airshow China 2022 exhibition being held in Zhuhai from 8 to 13 November.
WL-3 is a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAV, which is larger in size and has enhanced performance characteristics as compared with Wing Loong II.
WL-3 has a length of 12.2 m, a height of 4.3 m, and a wingspan of 24 m, according to an article published by China’s state-owned newspaper China Daily.
WL-3 features mid-wing monoplane with slender fuselage that incorporates a bulged nose section (incorporating a dorsal antenna hump and a ventral electro-optical/infrared imaging turret), a tricycle undercarriage, a V-shaped tail assembly incorporating ruddervators, and a rear-mounted engine driving a three-bladed pusher propeller.
In addition, each wing of WL-3 incorporates four underwing hardpoints for external stores, and one hardpoint on centreline of fuselage.
WL-3 “has nine payload hardpoints and can carry as many as 16 missiles and bombs”, China Daily. (Source: Janes)
04 Nov 22. SOFEX 2022: Jordan launches UAV test centre. A new facility for testing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and associated technology was formally opened in Jordan in the run-up to the SOFEX 2022 show held in Aqaba from 1 to 3 November.
The Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) announced on 27 October that its chief, Major General Yousef Ahmed al-Hunaiti, had opened the first site of its kind in the Middle East to test UAV, counter-UAV, and electronic warfare systems. The facility, which has been developed by a Jordanian company called Deep Element in co-operation with the Jordanian Design & Development Bureau (JODDB), has an air traffic management system.
Deep Element offers security solutions for airspace management, surveillance, and cyber security, and works with the Jordanian military and other security agencies across the Middle East and Africa, the JAF said. (Source: Janes)
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