 The objective of the
joint DARPA/Air Force Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) Advanced Technology
Demonstration (ATD) program is to demonstrate the technical feasibility
for a UCAV system to effectively and affordably prosecute 21st century
lethal strike missions within the emerging global command and control architecture.
The operational UCAV system is envisioned as a force enabler that will
conduct Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) and strike missions in
support of post-2010 manned strike packages. This SEAD/Strike mission will
be the first instantiation of an UCAV vision that will evolve into a broader
range of combat missions as the concept and technologies mature, and the
UCAV affordability potential is realized.
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- The Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle vision
is an affordable weapon system that expands tactical mission options for
revolutionary new air power as an integrated part of a system of systems
solution. The UCAV weapon system will exploit the design and operational
freedoms of relocating the pilot outside of the vehicle to enable a new
paradigm in aircraft affordability while maintaining the rationale, judgment,
and moral qualities of the human operator. In our vision, this weapon system
will require minimal maintenance, can be stored for extended periods of
time, and is capable of dynamic mission control while engaging multiple
targets in a single mission under minimal human supervision. The UCAV will
conduct missions from ordinary airfields as part of an integrated force
package complementary to manned tactical and support assets. UCAV controllers
will observe rules of engagement and make the critical decisions to use
or refrain from using force.
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- The initial operational role for the
UCAV is a "first day of the war" force enabler which complements
a strike package by performing the SEAD mission. In this role, UCAVs accomplish
preemptive destruction of sophisticated enemy integrated air defenses (IADs)
in advance of the strike package, and enable the attacking forces by providing
reactive suppression against the remaining IADs. Throughout the remainder
of the campaign, UCAVs provide continuous vigilance with an immediate lethal
strike capability to prosecute high value and time critical targets. By
effectively and affordably performing those missions the UCAV system provides
"no win" tactical deterrence against which an enemy's defenses
would be ineffective, thereby ensuring air superiority.
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- As a member of a tightly coupled system
of systems, the UCAV will work cooperatively with manned systems and exploit
the emerging command, control, communications, computer, intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) architecture to enable successful
achievement of campaign and mission level objectives. Intelligence preparation
of the battlefield will provide an initial mission/threat database for
mission controllers. Controllers will exploit real-time data sources from
the theater information architecture to plan for, and respond to, the dynamically
changing battlefield. The UCAV will penetrate enemy IADs and external systems
such as the Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) will stimulate potential
targets. Sensor cueing and off-board targeting can be provided by national
systems or airborne assets in real time and/or UCAVs may be part of multi-ship
Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) targeting architectures. The system will
create superior situation awareness by leveraging the many sources of information
available at both the tactical and theater levels.
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- Such a UCAV weapon system has the potential
to fully exploit the emerging information revolution and provide advanced
airpower with increased tactical deterrence at a fraction of the total
Life Cycle Costs (LCC) of current manned systems. The government envisions
a UCAV Operational System (UOS) air vehicle with unit cost less then one-third
of the Joint Strike Fighter, and reduction in total life cycle of 50-80%
compared to a current tactical aircraft squadron.
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- A variety of cost and weight penalties
are associated with the presence of a human pilot, including constrained
forebodies, large canopies, displays and environmental control systems.
The aircraft's maneuver capabilities are limited by the pilots physiological
limits such as g tolerance. Removing the pilot from the vehicle eliminates
man-rating requirements, pilot systems, and interfaces. The UCAV offers
new design freedoms that can be exploited to produce a smaller, simpler
aircraft, about half the size of a conventional fighter aircraft. Weighing
about one-third to one-fourth of a manned aircraft, at 10,000 pounds they
would weigh two to three times more than a Tomahawk missile.
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- Typically 80 percent of the useful life
of today's combat aircraft is devoted to pilot training and proficiency
flying, requiring longer design lives than would be needed to meet combat
requirements. Without the requirement to fly sorties to retain pilot proficiency,
UCAVs will fly infrequently. A reduced maintenance design with condition
based maintenance, minimized on-board sensors, reduced fluid systems, maintainable
signature, and a modular avionics architecture will reduce touch labor
in the fashion of commercial aircraft.
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- Advances in small smart munitions will
allow these smaller vehicles to attack multiple targets during a single
mission and reduce the cost per target killed. The Miniaturized Munitions
Technology Demonstration (MMTD) goal is to produce a 250-pound class munition
effective against a majority of hardened targets previously vulnerable
only to 2,000-pound class munitions. A differential GPS/INS system will
provide precision guidance, and smart fusing techniques will aid in producing
a high probability of target kill.
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- It is anticipated that the UCAV designs
developed under this program will incorporate previously developed advanced
technologies that require special security protection. The contractor teams
must have the appropriate background, expertise, and facilities necessary
to utilize those advanced technologies during all phases of the ATD. The
Government has determined that the only U.S. corporations meeting all the
requirements necessary to lead these teams are Boeing, Lockheed/Martin,
Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon Systems. The Government will therefore conduct
a limited competition procurement with these four corporations with the
intent of awarding multiple Section 845 agreements. The total estimated
value for the two-phased UCAV ATD Program is $120M through FY 2002.
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- Sources and Resources
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- * Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV)
@ DARPA * UCAV ATD PHASE I SELECTION PROCESS DOCUMENT * UCAV Operational
System (UOS) System Capability Document (SCD) * DARPA AND AIR FORCE SELECT
UCAV CONTRACTORS April 16, 1998 - The Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) and U.S. Air Force today selected four contractor teams
for the first phase of the Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) Advanced
Technology Demonstration (ATD) program. * Strikestar 2025 Air Force 2025
by Col (Sel) Bruce W. Carmichael et al * Unmanned Strike Fighter AIAA Student
Programs * UNINHABITED COMBAT AERIAL VEHICLES: REMOVE THE PILOT? ANDREW
A. PROBERT * Future Flier - Tactical Aircraft Systems studies uninhabited
combat aircraft for Navy
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- http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/ucav.htm
Maintained by John Pike
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